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Edward Settle Godfrey

For his grandson, the Maine judge, see Edward S. Godfrey (judge).
Edward Settle Godfrey
Born(1843-10-09)October 9, 1843
Kalida, Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 1, 1932(1932-04-01) (aged 88)
Cookstown, New Jersey, U.S.
Place of burial
Arlington National Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service1861, 1867–1907
Rank Brigadier General
Unit21st Ohio Infantry Regiment
7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment
Commands9th US Cavalry Regiment
Department of the Missouri
Battles / warsAmerican Civil War

Indian Wars

Spanish–American War
Philippine–American War
AwardsMedal of Honor

Edward Settle Godfrey (October 9, 1843 – April 1, 1932) was a United States Army Brigadier General who received the Medal of Honor for leadership as a captain during the Indian Wars.[1]

He commanded a troop of U.S. Army cavalry soldiers at both the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, and Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

Early life and education

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Godfrey was born October 9, 1843, in Ottawa, Ohio. He enlisted as a private in the Union Army at the beginning of the American Civil War. He served in Company D, 21st Ohio Infantry from April to August 1861.

He was admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point two years later, and graduated in 1867.

Career

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Grave at Arlington National Cemetery

Godfrey joined the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment and as a lieutenant was a survivor of Battle of the Little Bighorn. He wrote an account of the battle and his experiences in it, originally published in Century Magazine in January 1892, which was highly influential in shaping perceptions of the battle and Custer's generalship. Despite being severely wounded at the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians, September 30, 1877, Godfrey continued to lead his men in battle. He received the Medal of Honor in 1894 for his leadership actions during this battle.[2]

Godfrey was breveted major on February 27, 1890. He served in Cuba in 1898 during the Spanish–American War and in the Philippine–American War overseas (1899–1902). He retired from the army on October 9, 1907, with the rank of Brigadier General.[2]

At the ceremony of the burial of the Unknown Soldier from World War I in Arlington, Virginia, Godfrey led two platoons of Medal of Honor recipients as participants.[3]

Godfrey died on April 1, 1932, at his home in the Cookstown section of New Hanover Township, New Jersey. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery with his wife, Ida Emely Godfrey.[4]

General Godfrey and Walter Camp on DeWolf's Lone Grave

Wounded Knee Massacre

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Godfrey was Captain of D Troop of the 7th Cavalry and commanded its soldiers at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

He testified:

I was posted on the side of the ravine, with the ravine between myself and the Indian village. I was under command of Captain Jackson, whose Troop was there also, and who was my senior. The troop was deployed with intervals, and mounted about 50 yards behind the line of scouts. Soon after the firing began, the cordon of sentinels and scouts rushed back on the line. I told the men to fall back slowly, which they were doing, until a number of Indians from the village came up, across the ravine, onto the plateau, and the shots from the other lines at those Indians were falling among the men, and one of the shots from the Hotchkiss gun fell near the front of the line, when I ordered the men to rally behind the hill, which was just to our left and rear, where I dismounted to fight on foot. I here opened fire on the Indians who had crossed the ravine, who were attempting to escape.[5]

Marriage and family

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His first wife died before the turn of the century. Their surviving children in 1932 were Mary Godfrey and E.S. Godfrey Jr., who became a physician.[3] On October 6, 1892, Edward married for the second time, Ida D. Emley Godfrey (1856–1941), daughter of Hanry and Phebe Ann Emley.

Medal of Honor citation

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Rank and organization: Captain, 7th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Bear Paw Mountain, Mont., 30 September 1877. Entered service at: Ottawa, Putnam County, Ohio. Born: 9 October 1843, Ottawa, Ohio. Date of issue: 27 November 1894.[1]

Citation:

Led his command into action when he was severely wounded.[1]

Controversy

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Mass Grave for the Dead Lakota After the Engagement at Wounded Knee

There have been several attempts by various parties to rescind the Medals of Honor awarded in connection with the Battle of Wounded Knee.[6][7][8] Proponents claim that the engagement was in-fact a massacre and not a battle, due to the high number of killed and wounded Lakota women and children and the very one-sided casualty counts. Estimates of the Lakota losses indicate 150–300 killed, of which up to 200 were women and children. Additionally, as many as 51 were wounded. In contrast, the 7th Cavalry suffered 25 killed and 39 wounded, many being the result of friendly fire.[9][10][11]

Calvin Spotted Elk, direct descendant of Chief Spotted Elk killed at Wounded Knee, launched a petition to rescind medals from the soldiers who participated in the battle.[12]

The Army has also been criticized more generally for the seemingly disproportionate number of Medals of Honor awarded in connection with the battle.[13] For comparison, 20 Medals were awarded at Wounded Knee, 21 at the Battle of Cedar Creek, and 20 at the Battle of Antietam.[13][14] Respectively, Cedar Creek and Antietam involved 52,712 and 113,000 troops, suffering 8,674 and 22,717 casualties.[15][16][17][18][19] Wounded Knee, however, involved 610 combatants and resulted in as many as 705 casualties (including non-combatants).[20][9]

See also

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References

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Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.
  1. ^ a b c "Medal of Honor recipients Indian Wars Period". United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 2013-08-03. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  2. ^ a b "Edward Settle Godfrey". Home of Heroes. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  3. ^ a b "Old Indian Fighter Buried in Arlington". 9 (5). St. Louis, Missouri, reprinted on Rootsweb: Winners of the West. April 30, 1932. Retrieved 2009-04-14. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Burial Detail: Godgrey, Edward S. (Section 3, Grave 4175-E)". ANC Explorer. Arlington National Cemetery. (Official website).
  5. ^ Jacob F. Kent and Frank D. Baldwin, “Report of Investigation into the Battle at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, Fought December 29th 1890,” in Reports and Correspondence Related to the Army Investigations of the Battle at Wounded Knee and to the Sioux Campaign of 1890–1891, the National Archives Microfilm Publications (Washington: The National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1975), Roll 1, Target 3, Jan. 1891, 676.
  6. ^ Dana Lone Hill (February 18, 2013). "The Wounded Knee medals of honor should be rescinded". the Guardian. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  7. ^ "No Medals for Massacre: Close the Open Wound of Wounded Knee". The Huffington Post. February 12, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  8. ^ "Lakota~WOUNDED KNEE: A Campaign to Rescind Medals: story, pictures and information". Footnote.com. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Plains Humanities: Wounded Knee Massacre". Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  10. ^ "The 110th Anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre". perspicuity.net. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  11. ^ "Wagner...Part Two". dickshovel.com. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  12. ^ Joseph Huff-Hannon (February 12, 2013). "No Medals for massacre: Close the Open Wound of Wounded Knee". Huffington Post.
  13. ^ a b Green, Jerry (1994). "The Medals of Wounded Knee". Nebraska State Historical Society, also available in Nebraska History #75, pp. 200–208. Nebraska State Historical Society History.
  14. ^ Owens, Ronald J. (2004) Medal of Honor: Historical facts and figures. Turner Publishing Company
  15. ^ Whitehorne, p. 15. The NPS battle summary lists Union strength of 31,945. Cullen, p. 111, states 35,000 Union effectives, including 10,000 cavalry. Salmon, p. 368, and Kennedy, p. 319, state 32,000 Union.
  16. ^ Whitehorne, p. 17. The NPS battle summary and Kennedy, p. 319, list Confederate strength of 21,000. Cullen, p. 112, states 18,000 Confederate effectives, including 4,000 cavalry.
  17. ^ Wert, p. 246, Eicher, p. 752. Lewis, p. 288, reports Union totals as 5,764 (569 killed, 3,425 wounded, 1,770 missing), Confederates 3,060 (1,860 killed and wounded, 1,200 prisoners). Kennedy, p. 323, reports 5,672 Union, 2,910 Confederate. The NPS battle summary reports 5,665 Union, 2,910 Confederate. Salmon, p. 372, reports Union "almost 5,700", Confederate "almost 3,000."
  18. ^ Eicher, p. 363. Sears, p. 173, cites 75,000 Union troops, with an effective strength of 71,500, with 300 guns; on p. 296, he states that the 12,401 Union casualties were 25% of those who went into action and that McClellan committed "barely 50,000 infantry and artillerymen to the contest"; p. 389, he cites Confederate effective strength of "just over 38,000," including A.P. Hill's division, which arrived in the afternoon. Priest, p. 343, cites 87,164 men present in the Army of the Potomac, with 53,632 engaged, and 30,646 engaged in the Army of Northern Virginia. Luvaas and Nelson, p. 302, cite 87,100 Union engaged, 51,800 Confederate. Harsh, Sounding the Shallows, pp. 201–202, analyzes the historiography of the figures, and shows that Ezra A. Carman (a battlefield historian who influenced some of these sources) used "engaged" figures; the 38,000 excludes Pender's and Field's brigades, roughly half the artillery, and forces used to secure objectives behind the line.
  19. ^ Sears, pp. 294–96; Cannan, p. 201. Confederate casualties are estimates because reported figures include undifferentiated casualties at South Mountain and Shepherdstown; Sears remarks that "there is no doubt that a good many of the 1,771 men listed as missing were in fact dead, buried uncounted in unmarked graves where they fell." McPherson, p. 129, gives ranges for the Confederate losses: 1,546–2,700 dead, 7,752–9,024 wounded. He states that more than 2,000 of the wounded on both sides died from their wounds. Priest, p. 343, reports 12,882 Union casualties (2,157 killed, 9,716 wounded, 1,009 missing or captured) and 11,530 Confederate (1,754 killed, 8,649 wounded, 1,127 missing or captured). Luvaas and Nelson, p. 302, cite Union casualties of 12,469 (2,010 killed, 9,416 wounded, 1,043 missing or captured) and 10,292 Confederate (1,567 killed, 8,725 wounded for September 14–20, plus approximately 2,000 missing or captured).
  20. ^ Brown, p. 178, Brown states that at the army camp, "the Indians were carefully counted." Utley, p. 204, gives 120 men, 230 women and children; there is no indication how many were warriors, old men, or incapacitated sick like Big Foot.
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