Edmond Butler Edmund or Edmond Butler ( March 19 , or September 19 , 1827 – August 21 , 1895 ) was a U . S . Army officer who served with the Union Army during the American Civil War and later became a prominent Indian fighter in the Northern Plains , Rocky Mountains and southwest United States in the post - Civil War era . In 1877 , he was awarded the Indian Wars Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry against the Sioux and Cheyenne at Battle of Wolf Mountain . Biography . Edmond Butler was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States as a young man . Shortly after arriving in Brooklyn , New York , he enlisted in the U . S . Army and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 5th U . S . Infantry in October 1861 . He was also assigned to special duty with the inspector of volunteer units in Kansas and Missouri . In 1862 , he was sent to the New Mexico Territory and later assisted in the reconstruction of Fort Bliss after its recapture by the Union . Promoted to captain in 1864 , he was eventually reassigned to Fort Wingate , New Mexico and , in 1865 , commanded an expedition against the Navajos living in Canyon de Chelly . Intercepting a Navajo raiding party under Manuelito Grande , he recovered a number of sheep and other livestock taken from the neighboring Apache . After a period of 22 days , in which he had covered 720 miles , 31 Navajos were killed while another 27 were captured . He was also involved in the relocation of 3 , 000 Navajo to the Fort Sumner Reservation on the Pecos River . Transferred to Kansas in 1866 , he spent two years there before being assigned to the Beecher Island - site in December 1868 to bring in the bodies of the soldiers killed during the Battle of Beecher Island . Despite a large Sioux presence in the area , Butler successfully removed the bodies from the site despite being " under the fire of the main body of Sioux " . However , he was unable to find the remains of Lieutenant Fredrick H . Beecher and Acting Surgeon J . H . Mooer , suggesting their bodies had been removed by the Sioux " probably in revenge for rifling Sioux graves on the Republican ( earlier by camp followers ) " . During 1869 , while assigned to guard the Fort Wallace – Denver stage route , Butler volunteered to join an expedition under Lieutenant Colonel Charles R . Woods against the Pawnees . Returning to Kansas in October 1871 , he was assigned to operations to control " organized land - leaguers " in the southeast . Three years later , he served with Lieutenant General Nelson A . Miles during the Red River Campaign and in the Black Hills War in which he led six companies in pursuit of Sitting Bull . Although Sitting Bull and Gall escaped to Canada , he was involved in the capture of eight other Sioux chieftains and around 700 lodges . On January 8 , 1877 , Butler took part in the engagement against the Sioux at Wolf Mountain . In command of Company C , he was commended for his actions during the battle for " " conspicuous gallantry in leading his command against greatly superior numbers of hostile Indians , strongly entrenched " " and receiving a brevet of major and officially awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor . Later that year , he escorted Chief Joseph and other Nez Perce to Fort Buford between October and November 1877 . During the early 1880s , he was stationed at Fort Snelling , Minnesota and Fort Keogh , Montana and guarded construction parties of the Northern Pacific Railroad . He also held numerous staff positions and eventually awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel shortly before his retirement on March 9 , 1891 . He died in Trouville , France three years later and , his body being returned to the United States , later buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Omaha , Nebraska .