Edmund Rice ( Medal of Honor ) Edmund Rice ( December 2 , 1842 – July 20 , 1906 ) was a soldier in the United States Army and a Medal of Honor recipient who achieved the rank of Brigadier General . Early life . Rice was born 2 December 1842 in Brighton , Massachusetts to Moses Maynard Rice and Eliza ( Damon ) Rice . In 1856 he entered Norwich University in Vermont and remained there until 1858 , but was not awarded a degree until 1874 . After three years he became an apprentice to Captain Lloyd on the clipper ship , " Snow Squall " , that left Long Wharf in Boston in September 1858 headed for Shanghai , China . After ten months at sea Edmund arrived back in New York in June 1859 . He then began working as a surveyor for his father ' s development interests . Civil War . On 22 Aug 1861 , Rice joined the 14th Massachusetts Infantry and was commissioned a captain . He was soon transferred to the 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment to command Company F . With that unit he was engaged in the Civil War battles of : Ball ' s Bluff , Siege of Yorktown , Fair Oaks , Savage Station , Glendale , and Malvern Hill . He was promoted to the rank of major on 7 Sep 1862 and fought at Antietam later in September 1862 , and the Battle of Fredericksburg December 11 – 13 , 1862 . For his actions at the battle of Gettysburg in repelling Pickett ' s Charge , he was presented with the Medal of Honor in 1891 . Made a lieutenant colonel 28 Feb 1864 , he commanded his regiment in the Rapidan Campaign , the battles of Bristoe Station , Blackburn ' s Ford , Robinson ' s Cross Roads , and the Mine Run . He commanded the 19th in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5 , – 7 , 1864 and at the battle of Laurel Hill on May 8 , 1864 . He was wounded and captured in the assault at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House , May 12 , 1864 . While being transported as a prisoner on May 23 , he escaped by cutting the door of a freight car and jumping from it while the train was moving at 15 mph . He reached Union lines , near the Ohio River , twenty - three days later . He was promoted to colonel on 28 July 1864 . He rejoined his unit in August 1864 , and led the regiment in the second battle of Deep Bottom , the battle of Weldon Railroad , the second battle of Ream ' s Station , and the battle of Hatcher ' s Run ; he was in command of Fort Stedman and batteries Eleven and Twelve in front of Petersburg , Virginia . He was present at the surrender of the Confederate States Army at Appomattox Court House , and returned to civilian life on June 30 , 1865 . Altogether , he was wounded three times . Just a year later , he entered the United States Army and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the 40th Infantry , July , 1866 . Reconstruction . Rice married Annie Clark Dutch on August 30 , 1866 in Charleston , South Carolina . He commanded the Post of Hilton Head , South Carolina and was also stationed in Raleigh , North Carolina , Jackson Barracks , Louisiana , Camp Distribution , Washington , D . C . , and in Mississippi . After the Civil War , Rice invented several useful military implements , including the Rice Trowel Bayonet , the Rice Stacking Swivel , and a knife entrenching tool . In June 1868 Rice was assigned to the Springfield Armory to supervise the manufacture of the ' Rice Trowel Bayonet ' for trial by the U . S . Army . While stationed there , his wife Annie died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty only 11 months after their daughter was born . Rice ' s daughter , Corrine , was raised by his mother and siblings . Indian wars . In 1874 Rice commanded an expedition against Ute tribe Indians near Spanish Peaks , Colorado , and volunteered for an 1876 campaign against Sioux Indians in Montana , in retaliation for the loss of the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn . Buffalo Bill Cody was employed as a scout to aid the company in its trip up the Yellowstone River in search of hostile Indians . In July 1879 Rice commanded a six - gun battery in Colonel Nelson Miles ' expedition against the Sioux , north of the Missouri River near the Canadian Border . He took part in the engagement of July 17 , where their Hotchkiss gun s were used to disperse the Sioux . Rice spent the remainder of the Indian Wars of the 1870s and 1880s mostly at Fort Keogh , Montana , Fort Totten , North Dakota , Fort Rice , North Dakota , and Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . In 1877 he was a military envoy to England and Russia . He was promoted to captain on 10 Mar 1883 , and from 1888 through 1891 Edmund Rice was stationed in Texas at Fort McIntosh , Fort Bliss and finally in command of Fort Hancock . He was Commandant of the Columbian Guard at the 1893 World ' s Fair . In 1881 he married his second wife , Elizabeth Huntington , in Cincinnati , Ohio . Corrine was then suddenly removed from her home in Massachusetts to live with her father and stepmother in the western frontier . The reunion was less than amicable and she returned to the east coast in 1888 , settling in New Jersey with her husband Joseph H . Scharff , who was a grandnephew of secretary of State William H . Seward . Spanish - American War and Philippine - American War . Edmund Rice served as U . S . Military Attaché at Tokyo , Japan from May 1897 through April 1898 . At the outbreak of the Spanish American War , he asked to be relieved from diplomatic duty and to be given active field command . In May , 1898 he was appointed inspector general with the rank of lieutenant colonel on the staff of General Nelson A . Miles . Later upon the recommendation of Miles , Rice was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment that saw active service in both Puerto Rico and Cuba . In July 1898 , Colonel Rice was appointed by President William McKinley to be the senior colonel of all U . S . Volunteers in the Philippines . He commanded the 26th Infantry Regiment , a New England regiment , that was involved in skirmishes against the insurgents and Moros . In 1899 , he was appointed as Military Governor of the Island of Panay . In that capacity following recommendations of the First Philippine Commission , he established public schools , took the census , and administered the oath of allegiance to over 60 , 000 Filipinos . He served until Filipino General Martin Delgado was appointed first Civil Governor of Panay on April 11 , 1901 . He returned to the United States in July 1901 after suffering from fever and heart disease brought on by the harsh tropical climate . The Philippine - American War was Rice ' s last war . He served until his retirement in command of the 19th U . S . Infantry at the Presidio of San Francisco . Military inventions . Rice was an inventor of military equipment that were in use by military organizations around the world for decades . Some of his inventions include : Retirement . Rice retired on August 14 , 1903 , with the rank of brigadier general . He became a member of the Medal of Honor Legion , Military Order of the Loyal Legion , Grand Army of the Republic , Society of Prisoners of War , Sons of the Revolution , Sons of the American Revolution , Society of the Army of the Potomac , and the General Society of the War of 1812 . General Rice served as Grand Marshall of Ceremonies at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 , and he spent the summer of 1905 with his daughter Corinne and her husband . He died " very suddenly " of heart failure " while sitting in a hammock " at Wakefield , Massachusetts , on July 20 , 1906 , lay in state in the Hall of Flags of the State House in Boston , and was buried in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery . His wife , Elizabeth H . Rice ( 1849 – 1919 ) is buried with him . His grave is marked by a large rock with a 3 . 5 foot bronze sculpture of the Medal of Honor draped over the boulder with the inscription , " The Congress to lieut . - Col . Edmund Rice , 19th Mass . Volunteers , for conspicuous bravery on the 3rd day of the battle of Gettysburg . " Family relations and genealogy . Rice ' s first cousin Edward Everett Rice was a renowned theater producer in New York City . He was a direct descendant of the early English immigrant , Edmund Rice as follows : Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Major , 19th Massachusetts Infantry . Place and date : At Gettysburg , Pa . , July 3 , 1863 . Entered service at : Boston , Mass . Birth : Brighton , Mass . Date of issue : October 6 , 1891 . Citation : Conspicuous bravery on the third day of the battle on the countercharge against Pickett ' s division where he fell severely wounded within the enemy ' s lines . Other military awards . In addition to the Medal of Honor , General Rice was entitled to the following military awards :