Thomas Sullivan (Medal of Honor, 1890)

He went into exposed ground above a ravine under rifle fire.

Thomas Sullivan was an Irish immigrant whose American military career has often been confused with that of another soldier of the same name. Research using his service and immigration records places his origins in County Meath, although published records disagree about his exact birth year. He reached New York aboard the City of Chester in March 1889 and enlisted at Newark, New Jersey, that September. He was assigned to Troop E, 7th Cavalry, then serving at Fort Sill.

On 29 December 1890, Sullivan was at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. United States troops had surrounded a Lakota camp and were attempting to disarm its people. The firing that followed became a massacre in which Lakota men, women and children were killed. Sullivan’s subsequent decoration belongs to the Army’s contemporary account of this event; its language should be distinguished from a full account of what happened to the Lakota.

His Medal of Honor citation reads, “Conspicuous bravery in action against Indians concealed in a ravine” (Congressional Medal of Honor Society, https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/thomas-sullivan). Lieutenant James Sickel’s supporting recommendation describes Sullivan and fellow trooper Mosheim Feaster volunteering to occupy an exposed position near the ravine. Sullivan was commended for remaining cool while under fire. The recommendation was processed in 1891. This evidence describes the conduct the Army rewarded without resolving the wider historical and moral questions surrounding Wounded Knee.

Sullivan remained a career soldier. His later postings included service with the 7th Cavalry in Cuba and with the 2nd Cavalry in the Philippines. He advanced through the enlisted ranks and retired at Fort Bliss in June 1912 as a first sergeant after approximately twenty-three years of service. His campaigns brought additional service medals, separate from his individual decoration.

In civilian life he lived in Newark with his wife Ellen and worked in positions that included watchman and shipyard security employment. Ellen died in 1934. Sullivan died in Manhattan on 10 January 1940 and was buried beside her in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Orange, New Jersey. His award was among those examined during renewed official review of the Wounded Knee medals. The Pentagon announced in September 2025 that the awards would be retained; that administrative decision did not erase the massacre or the continuing objections of Indigenous communities.