Charles L. Thomas (Medal of Honor, 1865)
United States Army soldier awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism
Charles Lawrence Thomas (February 12, 1843 – February 24, 1923) was a United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for heroism in September 1865 during the Powder River Expedition in Montana and Dakota Territory.
Biography
Charles L. Thomas was born on February 12, 1843, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He left his home at Boudes Ferry Landing, Ohio to enlist in the 11th Ohio Cavalry in June 1863. He was mustered in at Cincinnati, Ohio. Thomas served in the West along the Overland Road for the duration of the Civil War, earning a promotion to Corporal in February 1864.
During the Powder River Expedition in Montana Territory in September, 1865, Captain Frank North returned to the camp of Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor, Companies E and K, of the 11th Ohio Cavalry, and the left wing of the Powder River Expedition after a scout with 50 men. He reported that the right and center columns of the Powder River Expedition under Colonel Nelson D. Cole and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker were surrounded by Indians on the Powder River. General Patrick Conner called for a volunteer "to go as a scout and find Cole or perish in the attempt." Corporal Charles L. Thomas was the only man who volunteered to go. Connor detailed Thomas, one other soldier, and two Indian scouts to carry out the mission. Connor told him he could have any animal in the camp for his mission, so Thomas chose Second Lieutenant Oscar Jewett's fine gray horse, which he said "was the finest horse I ever saw." Jewett objected and Connor threatened to have him arrested.
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This entry incorporates text from “Charles L. Thomas (Medal of Honor, 1865)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.