Julius Schou

Carried army dispatches across dangerous Sioux-held terrain.

Julius Alexis Schou was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 17 July 1849. He emigrated to the United States and was associated with Brooklyn, New York, before serving on the western frontier with Company I, 22nd United States Infantry. His Medal of Honor action was undertaken as a corporal during operations against the Sioux.

Schou volunteered to carry dispatches to Fort Buford. The task required a journey across country where a lone messenger risked interception and where communications between separated Army commands were essential. During the 1876 Sioux campaign he carried communications between the commands of Elwell Otis and William Hazen. By completing the mission he delivered information that could not be transmitted by the modern means available to later armies. The Medal of Honor citation recognizes the carrying of those dispatches.

He subsequently served with the 4th Cavalry and attained the rank of sergeant. His Medal of Honor was awarded on 19 November 1884. Later in his Army career he carried out recruiting duties in Seattle, where a newspaper interview in 1896 recalled his frontier service. These years of continued military employment followed the hazardous mission for which he became known.

Schou died in Washington, District of Columbia, on 19 November 1929, aged eighty. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where his grave also commemorates his wife Irma. His military record preserves both his Danish origins and his long service in the United States Army.