Christian Steiner

Private Christian Steiner (1843 – August 5, 1880) was a German-born American soldier in the U.S. Army who served as a saddler with the 8th U.S. Cavalry during the Apache Wars in the Arizona Territory. He was one of thirty-two men awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry battling against Cochise and the Apache Indians in the Chiricahua Mountains on October 20, 1869.

For the German ice dancer, see Christian Steiner (ice dancer).
Christian Steiner
Born1843
Württemberg, Germany
DiedAugust 5, 1880(1880-08-05) (aged 37)
Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States
Place of burial
Hollywood Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1868–1873, 1874–1880
RankPrivate
Unit8th U.S. Cavalry
Battles/warsIndian Wars
Apache Wars
AwardsMedal of Honor

Biography

Christian Steiner was born in Württemberg, Germany in 1843. He later emigrated to the United States and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, amid a growing German-American population, joining the United States Army from that city in May 1868.[1] As a saddler in Company G of the 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment,[2][3] he was assigned to frontier duty and took part in the southwest military campaigns against the Plains Indians.

Steiner was stationed in the Arizona Territory during the Apache Wars. He was among the sixty-one cavalry troopers from the 1st and 8th Cavalry Regiment who, on October 5, 1868, pursued an Apache raiding party under Cochise following attacks on a stage coach en route to Tucson and a group of cowboys in the Sulphur Springs Valley. Leaving Fort Bowie, he followed Lt. William H. Winters and Captain Reuben F. Bernard in a fifteen-day pursuit of Cochise's band, who had fled to the Apache stronghold in the Chiricahua Mountains (between Red Rock and Turtle Mountain), before finally catching up to them on October 20. In what was one of the major battles of the Apache campaign, famously called the "Campaign of the Rocky Mesa", Steiner was among the thirty-two soldiers cited for "gallantry in action" and officially awarded the Medal of Honor[2][4][5][6][7][8] on February 14, 1870.[3][9][10] He was discharged in May 1873, and re-enlisted in August of the following year. He died on August 5, 1880, at the age of 37, and buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Saddler, Company G, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Chiricahua Mountains, Ariz., 20 October 1869. Entered service at: --. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 14 February 1870.

Citation:

Gallantry in action.[11]

See also

References
  1. Register of Enlistments in the US Army, 1798-1914
  2. Beyer, Walter F. and Oscar Frederick Keydel, ed. Deeds of Valor: From Records in the Archives of the United States Government; how American Heroes Won the Medal of Honor; History of Our Recent Wars and Explorations, from Personal Reminiscences and Records of Officers and Enlisted Men who Were Rewarded by Congress for Most Conspicuous Acts of Bravery on the Battle-field, on the High Seas and in Arctic Explorations. Vol. 2. Detroit: Perrien-Keydel Company, 1906. (pg. 553)
  3. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Medal of Honor recipients, 1863-1973, 93rd Cong., 1st sess. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1973. (pg. 324)
  4. Manning, Robert, ed. Above and Beyond: A History of the Medal of Honor from the Civil War to Vietnam. Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1985. (pg. 327) ISBN 0-939526-19-0
  5. Hannings, Bud. A Portrait of the Stars and Stripes. Glenside, Pennsylvania: Seniram Publishing, 1988. (pg. 400) ISBN 0-922564-00-0
  6. O'Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. (pg. 26) ISBN 0-935269-07-X
  7. Yenne, Bill. Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West. Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing, 2006. (pg. 141) ISBN 1-59416-016-3
  8. Nunnally, Michael L. American Indian Wars: A Chronology of Confrontations Between Native Peoples and Settlers and the United States Military, 1500s-1901. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007. (pg. ) ISBN 0-7864-2936-4
  9. Sterner, C. Douglas (1999). "MOH Citation for Christian Steiner". MOH Recipients: Indian Campaigns. HomeofHeroes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  10. Army Times Publishing Company. "Military Times Hall of Valor: Christian Steiner". Awards and Citations: Medal of Honor. MilitaryTimes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  11. "Medal of Honor recipients". Indian War Campaigns. United States Army Center of Military History. June 8, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2010.

Further reading
  • Wilson, D. Ray. Terror on the Plains: A Clash of Cultures. Dundee, Illinois: Crossroads Communications, 1999. ISBN 0-916445-47-X
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