Neil Bancroft

Under fire a water bearer answered the cries of the wounded.

Private Neil Bancroft of Company A, 7th United States Cavalry, earned the Medal of Honor during the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876. He carried water for wounded soldiers while exposed to hostile fire. The Society records 25 June as his action date, although the surviving defence and rescue operations continued into the next day.

Born at Oswego, New York, in 1846, Bancroft entered Army service through Chicago. His regiment's survivors at the Reno-Benteen position urgently needed water, making the journeys to supply the wounded particularly important.

His Medal of Honor was issued on 5 October 1878. A specialist account states that he had already left the Army and that the medal was returned to the War Department. His medal is held by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Official Medal of Honor citation:

Brought water for the wounded under a most galling fire.