George F. Pond

George F. Pond was born on October 5, 1844, in Libertyville, Illinois. He became a Union cavalryman during the American Civil War and is remembered for an extraordinary action in Kansas in 1864, when he and two companions attacked a much larger guerrilla force, drove it away, and rescued prisoners. More than three decades later, that act of courage was formally recognized with the Medal of Honor.

Although Pond was born in Illinois, his Medal of Honor service was accredited to Fairwater in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. During the Civil War he entered the United States Army and served as a Private in Company C of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry.

The 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry was organized during the first year of the war and was sent west rather than serving primarily with the large Union armies fighting in Virginia. Much of its service took place in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and the surrounding border region, where Union troops faced a complex military environment involving Confederate forces, irregular fighters, guerrillas, raids, ambushes, and attacks on military posts and transportation routes.

Cavalry units operating in this region performed a wide range of duties. They guarded posts and supply lines, escorted military movements, conducted reconnaissance, patrolled roads and countryside, pursued guerrilla bands, protected settlements, and fought both conventional and irregular Confederate forces. These operations were often conducted by relatively small detachments rather than large battlefield formations.

This environment formed the background to George Pond's most important wartime action.

On May 15, 1864, while serving as a Private in Company C, 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry, Pond was involved in an action at Drywood, Kansas. The surviving official Medal of Honor citation is brief, but its wording reveals the remarkable character of what occurred.

Pond and two companions encountered a guerrilla force that was greatly superior in number. Rather than withdrawing from the larger enemy group, the three Union cavalrymen attacked.

The action was successful. Pond and his two companions routed the guerrillas and rescued several prisoners who had been in their hands.

The episode represented precisely the type of dangerous small-unit warfare that characterized much of the conflict along the Kansas-Missouri border. Unlike the great set-piece battles of the eastern and western theaters, engagements against guerrilla forces could develop suddenly and involve only a handful of soldiers. Troops frequently had limited knowledge of the enemy's strength or location, and a small patrol could find itself confronting a much larger hostile force with little warning.

Pond's action was therefore notable not merely because he participated in combat, but because he and only two other men deliberately engaged a force described in his official citation as greatly superior in strength. Their attack succeeded in driving the enemy away and recovering prisoners.

The rescue element of the action was especially significant. Pond and his companions were not simply defending themselves or attempting to escape. By attacking the guerrillas, they created the opportunity to free men who had already fallen into enemy hands.

Despite the extraordinary nature of the action, Pond did not receive the Medal of Honor during the Civil War. Like many Civil War veterans whose acts were formally recognized years later, he had to wait decades before the United States government approved the decoration.

The Medal of Honor itself had been created during the Civil War. Congress authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862, establishing a national decoration for exceptional military conduct. During and after the war, soldiers were recognized for actions that included battlefield leadership, rescues, flag captures, defense of positions, and acts of extraordinary courage under fire.

George F. Pond's case illustrates the importance of separating the date of the heroic action from the date of the award.

His Medal of Honor action occurred at Drywood, Kansas, on May 15, 1864.

His Medal of Honor was presented on May 16, 1899—thirty-five years and one day after the action.

Because the decoration was issued in 1899, the correct historical representation for the project's database is Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1899. The 1896–1903 designation refers to the applicable historical Army Medal of Honor ribbon and design period when his medal was issued. It does not change the fact that the action for which he earned the decoration occurred during the Civil War in 1864.

No additional clasp, star, bar, oak leaf cluster, or other device has been verified for Pond's Medal of Honor. His award therefore remains one Medal of Honor with no device or clasp.

A separate Civil War Campaign Medal has not been included in his verified ribbon rack. Pond clearly served during the Civil War, and he lived until 1911, well beyond the period when later Civil War service recognition was created. However, wartime participation and survival into the twentieth century do not by themselves establish that an individual veteran personally received or was specifically entitled to the later campaign medal.

Under the evidence standard applied to his profile, recipient-specific documentation is required before such a medal can be published. No sufficiently strong individual issuance or entitlement record has been established for George F. Pond. His final verified medal history therefore remains Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1899, with no additional device.

Pond's verified military rank is Private. Some later references associated with his death used a higher title for him, but authoritative Medal of Honor and military records identify him as Private, and no sufficiently reliable U.S. Army documentation has been established showing that he attained a higher military rank. For this reason, both his Medal of Honor action rank and his highest verified U.S. Army rank remain Private.

After the Civil War, Pond eventually made his home in Fort Scott, Kansas. The community had played an important military role during the conflict and remained closely connected with the memory of Civil War service in the region. Pond spent the later portion of his life there.

The passage of time gradually transformed his 1864 action from a wartime event into part of the historical memory of the Civil War on the western border. When his Medal of Honor was presented in 1899, Pond was no longer the young cavalry Private who had confronted guerrillas at Drywood. Thirty-five years had passed, yet the government formally preserved the significance of the action by granting him the nation's highest military decoration.

George F. Pond died on June 21, 1911, in Fort Scott, Kansas, at the age of sixty-six. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Scott.

His association with Fort Scott continued to be honored long after his death. In 1989, research conducted through Fort Scott National Historic Site helped bring renewed attention to local Medal of Honor recipients. During a ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery, a new Medal of Honor headstone was dedicated for Pond. The ceremony included military honors and became part of an effort to ensure that his service and sacrifice remained publicly remembered.

George F. Pond's military legacy rests on a remarkably concise official citation. With only two companions, he attacked a greatly superior force of guerrillas, routed them, and rescued several prisoners.

Behind those few words was a highly dangerous encounter typical of the irregular warfare that marked the Civil War along the Kansas-Missouri border. Pond was an enlisted cavalryman operating far from the famous battlefields of Gettysburg, Antietam, or Vicksburg. Yet the courage required in those smaller engagements could be every bit as immediate and personal.

On May 15, 1864, Private George F. Pond chose to attack rather than retreat when faced with a numerically superior enemy. The success of that attack freed prisoners and established the action for which he would eventually enter Medal of Honor history.

Thirty-five years later, on May 16, 1899, the United States formally recognized that courage with the Medal of Honor.

George F. Pond is therefore remembered as a Private of Company C, 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry, a Union veteran of the American Civil War, a participant in the dangerous guerrilla warfare of the western border, and a Medal of Honor recipient. His single verified decoration, Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1899, remains the enduring symbol of the courage he demonstrated at Drywood, Kansas, in 1864.