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Buffalo Soldier gets posthumous recognition
Former Buffalo Soldier gets posthumous recognition
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20305903&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222087&rfi=6
By BILL HESS, Sierra Vista Herald April 28, 2009
SIERRA VISTA (AP) - It's been a long time since Cpl. Isaiah Mays' actions in the then Territory of Arizona led to him being awarded the Medal of Honor.
It's been a long time since the then 64-year-old Mays applied for a federal pension in the State of Arizona, only to be denied.
It's been a long time since Mays' body was buried in what became a decrepit Phoenix graveyard with the unclaimed dead of the state's hospital for the insane, tubercular patients and indigent.
Those years, in order, were: 1889, 1922 and 1925.
Soon Mays' remains will be in Washington, D.C., where they will find a final resting place in the most hallowed of America's veterans' grounds - Arlington National Cemetery.
But, before the box containing his cremated remains heads East, he was honored at Thursday's ceremony of the dedication of the Buffalo Soldier Plaza on Fort Huachuca, an Army post where Mays, himself a Buffalo Soldier, once served in 1892.
Retired Army 1st Sgt. Anthony Pace, carried the container to a white covered table with a large portrait of Mays in a civilian suit with his 1800s style Medal of Honor affixed to the jacket.
It was on May 11, 1889, when Mays, a member of Company B, 24th Infantry was part of a guard accompanying Army Paymaster Maj. Joseph Washington Wham when the group was attacked near Pima, Ariz., by what was described as "highwaymen," armed robbers, and a gun battle broke out with all the members of the military party being wounded.
During the battle the soldiers tried to protect the money, that was in a strongbox in a wagon.
Mays took command of the guard after Sgt. Benjamin Brown had been wounded five times.
Himself, wounded in both legs, Mays walked and crawled to a nearby ranch, some two miles distance from the battle, to report the incident and obtain assistance.
Although the robbers were successful in stealing the nearly $28,000 in gold and silver coins, worth approximately a half million dollars today, the actions of Mays and Brown led to both of them being presented the nation's top medal for bravery on Feb. 15, 1890. The money was never recovered. At the time of the incident, Mays was not assigned to Fort Huachuca.
Born in Virginia in 1858, as a slave, he was freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865 and enlisted in the Army as a 23-year-old in 1881.
Mays left the Army in 1893 and went on to be a laborer in New Mexico and Arizona.
In 1922, his request for a federal pension was denied and because he was indigent he was admitted to the state-operated hospital where he died in 1925, with his death certificate listing the cause of death as "paralysis of the insane," which today would be known as a stroke, or cerebral hemorrhage.
His body was wrapped in a sheet and buried in the ground, covered with lime to promote rapid deterioration of the remains, as was common for unclaimed bodies of the time.
Although the site of his burial was not marked with a tombstone bearing his name, years later a brick marker with a number on it was confirmed to be the site of where Mays was placed after death.
In 2001, a Medal of Honor tombstone was placed at the site.
On March 5, the Old Guard Riders and Missing in America Project obtained a court order to exhume his remains, which were cremated.
In May his cremains will be taken to Arlington National Cemetery.
On May 29, Mays will be honored at Arlington, a 21-rifle salute will be fired, "Taps" will be sounded, and the Buffalo Solider Medal of Honor recipient will be laid to rest among thousands of others of America's warriors.
It's been a long time coming.
Former Buffalo Soldier gets posthumous recognition
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20305903&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222087&rfi=6
By BILL HESS, Sierra Vista Herald April 28, 2009
SIERRA VISTA (AP) - It's been a long time since Cpl. Isaiah Mays' actions in the then Territory of Arizona led to him being awarded the Medal of Honor.
It's been a long time since the then 64-year-old Mays applied for a federal pension in the State of Arizona, only to be denied.
It's been a long time since Mays' body was buried in what became a decrepit Phoenix graveyard with the unclaimed dead of the state's hospital for the insane, tubercular patients and indigent.
Those years, in order, were: 1889, 1922 and 1925.
Soon Mays' remains will be in Washington, D.C., where they will find a final resting place in the most hallowed of America's veterans' grounds - Arlington National Cemetery.
But, before the box containing his cremated remains heads East, he was honored at Thursday's ceremony of the dedication of the Buffalo Soldier Plaza on Fort Huachuca, an Army post where Mays, himself a Buffalo Soldier, once served in 1892.
Retired Army 1st Sgt. Anthony Pace, carried the container to a white covered table with a large portrait of Mays in a civilian suit with his 1800s style Medal of Honor affixed to the jacket.
It was on May 11, 1889, when Mays, a member of Company B, 24th Infantry was part of a guard accompanying Army Paymaster Maj. Joseph Washington Wham when the group was attacked near Pima, Ariz., by what was described as "highwaymen," armed robbers, and a gun battle broke out with all the members of the military party being wounded.
During the battle the soldiers tried to protect the money, that was in a strongbox in a wagon.
Mays took command of the guard after Sgt. Benjamin Brown had been wounded five times.
Himself, wounded in both legs, Mays walked and crawled to a nearby ranch, some two miles distance from the battle, to report the incident and obtain assistance.
Although the robbers were successful in stealing the nearly $28,000 in gold and silver coins, worth approximately a half million dollars today, the actions of Mays and Brown led to both of them being presented the nation's top medal for bravery on Feb. 15, 1890. The money was never recovered. At the time of the incident, Mays was not assigned to Fort Huachuca.
Born in Virginia in 1858, as a slave, he was freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865 and enlisted in the Army as a 23-year-old in 1881.
Mays left the Army in 1893 and went on to be a laborer in New Mexico and Arizona.
In 1922, his request for a federal pension was denied and because he was indigent he was admitted to the state-operated hospital where he died in 1925, with his death certificate listing the cause of death as "paralysis of the insane," which today would be known as a stroke, or cerebral hemorrhage.
His body was wrapped in a sheet and buried in the ground, covered with lime to promote rapid deterioration of the remains, as was common for unclaimed bodies of the time.
Although the site of his burial was not marked with a tombstone bearing his name, years later a brick marker with a number on it was confirmed to be the site of where Mays was placed after death.
In 2001, a Medal of Honor tombstone was placed at the site.
On March 5, the Old Guard Riders and Missing in America Project obtained a court order to exhume his remains, which were cremated.
In May his cremains will be taken to Arlington National Cemetery.
On May 29, Mays will be honored at Arlington, a 21-rifle salute will be fired, "Taps" will be sounded, and the Buffalo Solider Medal of Honor recipient will be laid to rest among thousands of others of America's warriors.
It's been a long time coming.
