Orizoba Spence

In Chiricahua Mountains a soldier fought with great courage.

Orizoba Spence, also recorded as Orisoba, received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona Territory on 20 October 1869. He was then a private in Company G, 8th United States Cavalry, fighting against Cochise's Apache force. The brief award citation does not describe his individual movements during the engagement.

A native of Tionesta, Pennsylvania, Spence enlisted in 1868. His company was eventually stationed at Fort Bowie. He remained in the Army after the action and was discharged at Fort Selden, New Mexico, in 1873 with the rank of sergeant. He married the following year and later worked as a cook at Nicholas Rogers's overland mail station at Sulphur Springs, Arizona.

On 7 April 1876, Spence and Rogers were killed during a confrontation with Apaches at the station. Initially buried there, their remains were subsequently moved to the Fort Bowie post cemetery.