Emanuel Stance

Emanuel Stance (1843 – December 25, 1887) was a Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army and a recipient of America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Indian Wars of the western United States.

Stance joined the Army in October 1866, and was promoted to Sergeant just a few months later. At the time of his actions, Stance was serving in Company F of the 9th Cavalry Regiment at Fort McKavett. On May 20, 1870, he was sent with a patrol to find the Apaches who had kidnapped Herman Lehmann and his younger brother, Willie, four days earlier. Stance and his men located the raiding party near Kickapoo Springs, about fourteen miles north of Fort McKavett, and opened fire. The Apaches abandoned their stolen horses and fled, enabling Willie Lehmann to escape during the chaos. For his bravery on this mission, Stance was cited for "[g]allantry on scout after Indians" and became the first African-American regular to receive the Medal of Honor a month later, on June 28, 1870.

Stance reached the rank of First Sergeant before being murdered on Christmas Eve, 1887. His body was found on the road to Crawford, Nebraska with several bullet wounds; the probable victim of his own men.^[1] He was buried at Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Maxwell, Nebraska.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Kickapoo Springs, Tex., 20 May 1870. Entered service at. ------. Birth: Carroll Parish, La. Date of issue: 28 June 1870.

Citation.

Gallantry on scout after Indians.^[2]

See also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Indian Wars
• Bowmaster, Patrick A. “Buffalo Soldier Emanuel Stance Received the Medal of Honor and Became a Legend.” Wild West, February 1997, 32, 34, 82-87.
• Bowmaster, Patrick A. ed. “A Medal of Honor for a Buffalo Soldier.” Journal of the Indian Wars 1, no. 4 (2000): 119-24.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

• "Emanuel Stance". Hall of Valor. Military Times. Retrieved August 28, 2011. 

External links

• "Emanuel Stance". Claim to Fame: Medal of Honor recipients. Find a Grave. Retrieved January 15, 2007. 

Buffalo Soldiers
Predecessors	United States Colored Troops Bureau of Colored Troops
Original units	9th Cavalry Regiment 10th Cavalry Regiment 24th Infantry Regiment 25th Infantry Regiment
Medal of Honor recipients (1866–1918)	Edward L. Baker Jr. Dennis Bell Thomas Boyne Benjamin Brown George Ritter Burnett Louis H. Carpenter John Denny Clinton Greaves Henry Johnson George Jordan Fitz Lee Isaiah Mays William McBryar Thomas Shaw Emanuel Stance Freddie Stowers William H. Thompkins Augustus Walley George H. Wanton Moses Williams William Othello Wilson Brent Woods
Notable battles (1866–1918)	American Indian Wars Saline River Texas–Indian wars Beecher Island Wichita I Beaver Creek North Fork Red River War Wichita II Apache Wars Victorio Campaign Fort Tularosa Bannock Uprising Yaqui Uprising Bear Valley Spanish–American War Las Guasimas Tayacoba El Caney San Juan Heights Santiago Philippine–American War Moro Rebellion Border War Pancho Villa Expedition Carrizal Ambos Nogales World War I Third Battle of the Aisne Second Battle of the Marne Meuse-Argonne Offensive Oise-Aisne Offensive
See also	Wham Paymaster Robbery Brownsville Affair Bisbee Riot
United States Armed Forces Military history of African Americans