Thomas J. Callan

He crossed deadly ground to bring water to badly wounded men

Thomas Joseph Callan, whose surname also appears as Callen in Medal of Honor records, was born in County Louth, Ireland, on 13 July 1853. He emigrated to the United States and worked as a morocco dresser, preparing leather, before entering the Army. He enlisted in March 1876 and joined Company B of the 7th Cavalry at St Paul, Minnesota, on 27 April. Within two months he was campaigning in Montana Territory.

Callan was with the regiment's pack train during the opening stages of the Little Bighorn battle on 25 June 1876. The men accompanying the supplies subsequently joined the defensive position occupied by the detachments under Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen. Callan survived the fighting on the hilltop while Custer and the companies with him were destroyed elsewhere on the battlefield.

The surviving soldiers' position was exposed to repeated attacks on 25 and 26 June. Wounded men urgently needed water, but obtaining it required volunteers to leave the protection of the defensive line and cross ground threatened by enemy fire. Callan volunteered for this work and succeeded in bringing water to the casualties. His official Medal of Honor citation also recognizes his conduct in helping drive away the attackers; it does not limit the award to carrying water alone.

He remained a private in the record of the action. His bravery was formally recognized much later, when the medal was issued on 24 October 1896. The intervening years did not diminish the importance of a task undertaken for wounded comrades under immediate threat. Callan later lived in the New York area. He died in Yonkers on 5 March 1908 and was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Orange, New Jersey. His grave is in St Stephen's section, lot 18, grave 5.

Medal of Honor citation (official excerpt)

Volunteered and succeeded in obtaining water for the wounded of the command…

Official citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/thomas-j-callen