Willis H. Downs

Willis H. Downs was born in Connecticut and later made his home in Jamestown, North Dakota. When war with Spain brought calls for volunteer troops in 1898, Downs entered federal service with Company H, 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry.

The regiment was mustered into United States service in May 1898 and departed for the Pacific the following month. It arrived in the Philippine Islands on 31 July 1898, shortly before the American assault on Manila. The North Dakotans subsequently remained in the islands as relations between American forces and Filipino nationalists deteriorated into open warfare in February 1899.

Downs became one of the men associated with Young’s Scouts, a picked force used for reconnaissance and aggressive operations ahead of the main body. On 13 May 1899, at San Miguel de Mayumo on Luzon, Downs was serving as a private when a small group of scouts encountered a much larger entrenched Filipino force. Rather than wait for the supporting battalion to come forward, Downs and eleven other scouts attacked.

His official Medal of Honor citation records:

“With 11 other scouts, without waiting for the supporting battalion to aid them or to get into a position to do so, charged over a distance of about 150 yards and completely routed about 300 of the enemy…”

The attack carried a position that could otherwise only have been taken by a frontal assault by a substantially larger force.

Downs survived the Philippine campaign and eventually attained the rank of Wagoneer before leaving military service. His regiment departed the Philippines in the summer of 1899 and was mustered out at San Francisco on 25 September.

His Medal of Honor was formally issued on 16 February 1906, several years after the action. Downs died on 15 September 1929 and was buried at Highland Home Cemetery in Jamestown, North Dakota.