John Gregory Bourke John Gregory Bourke ( June 23 , 1843 – June 8 , 1896 ) was a captain in the United States Army and a prolific diarist and postbellum author ; he wrote several books about the American Old West , including ethnologies of its indigenous peoples . He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions while a cavalryman in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Based on his service during the war , his commander nominated him to West Point , where he graduated in 1869 , leading to service as an Army officer until 1886 . Biography . John G . Bourke was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , to Irish immigrant parents , Edward Joseph and Anna ( Morton ) Bourke . His early education was extensive and included Latin , Greek , and Gaelic . When the Civil War began , John Bourke was fourteen . At sixteen he ran away and lied about his age ; claiming to be nineteen , he enlisted in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry , in which he served until July 1865 . He received a Medal of Honor for " gallantry in action " at the Battle of Stones River , Tennessee , in December 1862 . He later saw action at the Battle of Chickamauga . His commander , Major General George H . Thomas , nominated Bourke for West Point . He was appointed cadet in the United States Military Academy on October 17 , 1865 . He graduated on June 15 , 1869 , and was assigned as a second lieutenant in the Third U . S . Cavalry . He served with his regiment at Fort Craig , New Mexico Territory , from September 29 , 1869 to February 19 , 1870 . He served as an aide to General George Crook in the Apache Wars from 1870 to 1886 . As Crook ' s aide , Bourke had the opportunity to witness every facet of life in the Old West — the battles , wildlife , the internal squabbling among the military , the Indian Agency , settlers , and Native Americans . Work . Bourke kept a diary in sequential journals throughout his adult life , documenting his observations in the West . He used these notes as the basis for his later monographs and writings . In 1881 Bourke was a guest of the Zuni Indians , where he allowed to attend the ceremony of a Newekwe priest . His report of this experience was published in 1888 as " The use of human odure and human urine in rites of a religious or semi religious character among various nations " . While in Washington he was one of the board of the Anthropological Society . " Rites of All Nations " . Several subsequent studies led in 1891 to the completion of his major work " Rites of All Nations . A Dissertation upon the Employment of Excrementicious Remedial Agents in Religion , Therapeutics , Divination , Witch - Craft , Love - Philters , etc . in all part of the Globe " . This work was distributed only among selected specialists . A revised version by Friedrich S . Krauss was published posthumously in 1913 , with a preface by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud . Freud wrote : Marriage and family . At the age of 40 , Bourke married Mary F . Horbach of Omaha , Nebraska , on July 25 , 1883 . They had three daughters together . Bourke died in the Polyclinic Hospital in Philadelphia on June 8 , 1896 , and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery . His wife was buried with him after her death .