Rudolph Stauffer First Sergeant Rudolph Stauffer ( November 27 , 1836 – June 9 , 1918 ) was an American soldier in the U . S . Army who served with the 5th U . S . Cavalry in the Apache Wars . He was one of twelve soldiers , along with ten Apache Scouts , awarded the Medal of Honor during Lieutenant Colonel George Crook ' s " winter campaign " of 1872 - 73 , being cited for gallantry in battle against renegade Apaches near Camp Hualpai . Charles King , while serving with the 5th U . S . Cavalry in his youth , wrote of him in his memoirs as " grim old Stauffer , the first sergeant " . Biography . Rudolph Stauffer was born in Bern , Switzerland , on November 27 , 1836 . He later emigrated to the United States and settled in Cincinnati , Ohio . On June 24 , 1855 , he enlisted in the United States Army and was eventually assigned to Company K of the 2nd U . S . Cavalry Regiment ( which later became 5th U . S . Cavalry Regiment ) . By the early 1870s , a " typical hard - bitten noncommissioned officer of the old cavalry " , he had risen to the rank of first sergeant . Stauffer was posted at Camp Hualpai in the Arizona Territory during the Apache Wars . On May 19 , 1872 , he led a small cavalry force , along with Ed Clark and Dan O ' Leary , after an Apache raiding party which had stolen cattle from a ranch in Williamson Valley . Stauffer and the cavalry troopers pursued the raiders eastward over a distance of 110 miles when , according to Lieutenant Colonel George Crook , a " terrible fight occurred " . Two soldiers were wounded , four renegades were killed , and one head of cattle was recovered . A month later , he was involved in another engagement with the Apaches when , on June 30 , he and several other soldiers held off the hostile Indians from a butte near Camp Verde ; the location was later named " Stauffer ' s Butte " in his honor . Stauffer was also presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his leadership during the battle . In November of that year , Stauffer was part of Lieutenant Colonel George Crook ' s so - called " winter campaign " against renegades still active after the surrender of Cochise in late - 1872 . He was one of 12 cavalrymen , along with 10 Apache scouts , who guided Crook ' s columns in the mountainous area of the Tonto Basin where Western Apache and Yavapai bands used as a base for raiding parties and had successfully eluded the U . S . Army for a number of years . Stauffer was among the scouts cited for " gallant conduct during the campaigns and engagements with Apaches " , many of whom would also be awarded the Medal of Honor , which he received on July 30 , 1875 . After leaving the army on December 11 , 1878 , Stauffer retired to the Soldiers ' Home in Washington , D . C . where he lived until his death on June 9 , 1918 , at the age of 81 . A lifelong bachelor , he has no known descendants . He is one of 22 Medal of Honor recipients , along with three other veterans of the Apache Wars , interred at the United States Soldiers ' and Airmen ' s Home National Cemetery . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : First Sergeant , Company K , 5th U . S . Cavalry . Place and date : Near Camp Hualpai , Ariz . , 1872 . Entered service at : - - . Birth : Switzerland . Date of issue : 30 July 1875 . Citation : Gallantry on scouts after Indians .