Published: Tue, 05/03/2016 - 2:24pm | Section:

By Amorette Allison

The obituary in the Miles City Daily Star on Friday, April 21, 1916, was headlined “Brave solider of U.S. dies Wednesday.” The subhead said casually, “Henry Hogan of the pine hills dies, served many years in the army.” Which was the understatement of the century.

His Army service made up most of the obituary, with almost no personal details besides that his son, James, brought the remains to town. Comments from former fellow military men H. C. Thompson and George Cahoo on what a superb soldier he was made up a substantial portion of the article.

His multiple medals were also mentioned, including that “One of these medals was presented by congress for bravery when First Sergeant in the Fifth Infantry, in the Nez Pearce (sic) campaign, and there were others.”

That medal “presented by congress” was what we would today call the Medal of Honor. And among those other medals? A second Medal of Honor.

Congress stopped awarding second medals, so Henry Hogan is one of only 19 military personnel who received two Medals of Honor. And one of only 14 who received the Medal of Honor for two separate actions.

So Hogan was in pretty rare company, but he was actually even more unusual.

Hogan’s first Medal of Honor was presented for action at Cedar Creek, Montana. This was not a single battle, but a series of engagements. He was cited for “Gallantry in actions” from October, 1876, until January 4, 1877.

His home base for those actions? Fort Keogh.

He and Nelson Miles’ Fifth Infantry were also involved in Hogan’s second Medal of Honor citation, this time at Bear Paw Mountain, September 30, 1877. The Battle of the Bear Paw is famous for the place where Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce surrendered with one of the most eloquent speeches in the history of the United States.

Hogan’s citation for his second Medal reads “Carried Lt. Henry Romeyn, who was severely wounded, off the field of battle under heavy fire.”

Not only was it brave, it made Hogan one of only three men to receive the Medal of Honor for rescuing

someone who also received the Medal of Honor. Both men were presented with their medals sometime later, June 26, 1884.

Hogan spent the remaining years of his military career at Fort Keogh, eventually retiring to take up

ranching in the Pine Hills.

He was also once a policeman in Miles City.

Hogan was quietly buried in 1916 at the Custer County Cemetery, where his marker still stands. One of the bravest and most unusual Medal of Honor winners in history lies quietly in our community.

Since Hogan did not have a military funeral, members of the local Fifth Infantry Historic Re-enactors, plan to have a formal ceremony in memory of First Sergeant Hogan on Memorial Day.

And while they are at it, they plan to provide military honors for our other local Medal of Honor winner, James Pym, who is buried just a few steps away from Sergeant Hogan.

Pym’s story is another fascinating glimpse into the almost unbelievable history of Miles City, and a story for another time.