Loyd, George
Place of Birth: County Tyrone
Date of enlistment: 13 April 1874
Age given at enlistment: 31
Rank: Private
Company: G
Location on 25 June 1876: In valley & hilltop fights
Awarded Medal of Honor for bravery at Wounded Knee
- Not yet fully researched. Details of his long and honourable career in the U.S. Army to be posted shortly [10 February 2018].
- George Loyd had grey eyes, light hair, a ruddy complexion, and was 5′ 9″ tall.
- Third enlistment 13 April 1874 in U.S. Army by Captain Charles Bendire, at St Louis. Missouri, but wasn’t assigned to 7th Cavalry until 15 April 1876 and didn’t join Company G at St Paul, Minnesota, until 27 April.
- During the Battle of Little Big Horn was with his company in the valley and hilltop fights. His horse killed during the battle. Was promoted to corporal 12 July 1876, effective 25 June, and sergeant 13 February 1877.
- Loyd was cited by Captain Frederick Benteen for conspicuous gallantry in two mounted charges against the Nez Perce at Canyon Creek, 13 September 1877.
- He was awarded the Medal of Honor on 16 April, 1891, for the engagement with Big Foot’s band of Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek on 29 December 1890, while a sergeant with Company I. The citation reads: “Bravery, especially after having been severely wounded through the lung.“
- Was hospitalised at Pine Ridge until 26 January 1891 and the Post Hospital at Fort Riley to 9 April before being discharged from sick quarters on 31 May,
- On 12 September 1892, Loyd fell down a flight of steps at Fort Riley and broke several ribs. Then, on 29 November the same year, his horse bolted and threw him against a tree and injured his side. The constant pain he suffered may have led him to take his own life because on 17 December 1892, at Fort Riley, he shot himself in the forehead with Colt army revolver. He was buried in the Post Cemetery at Fort Riley, Section F, Row 8.
- Western Kansas World, 31 December 1892 – Junction City special: First Sergeant George Loyd, I Troop, Seventh Cavalry, one of the oldest soldiers at the post, committed suicide by shooting himself through the head. Death was almost instantaneous. Sergeant Loyd has seen hard service and has been wounded a number of times. At the battle of Wounded Knee he was shot through the body and was left for dead. Since then he has had two ribs broken and it is thought that he was deranged when he committed his last rash act.
- Trivia
- In the same column of this newspaper, the reporter from Independence “indignantly denies the story that the women of that city are carry flowers to Emmet (sic) Dalton.” Emmett, the youngest brother in the infamous Dalton Gang, survived being shot no less than 23 times following a foiled bank robbery at Coffeyville, Kansas, on 5 October 1892. After serving 14 years of a life sentence he moved to California where he dabbled in acting before getting involved in real estate. He died in Los Angeles, age 66, on 13 July 1937.
- Loyd’s Medal of Honor and a package of private papers, consisting of warrants as NCO and discharges, etc, was sent to the Adjutant General’s Office on 27 January 1893, but were lost in the mail!
Post Cemetery, Fort Riley, Kansas, Section F, Row 8.
- Final Statement of George Loyd [late a 1st Sergeant] signed by Captain E. A. Garlington, Commanding Company, at Fort Riley, 17 December, 1892.
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DUE SOLDIER
- For five years’ continuous service under sec. 2, act August 4, 1854 … $6.00 per month
- For retained pay under act of May 15, 1872 … $44.07
- For clothing not drawn in kind … $117.71
- DUE UNITED STATES
- Nil
- The above statement does not take into account basic pay due for the period 1 -17 December 1892.
Comments:
Also known as George Lloyd. Name, date and place of birth not yet verified. For details of his military service consult: (i) ‘Military Register of Custer’s Last Command,’ Roger L. Williams, The Arthur H. Clark Company, Norman, Oklahoma, 2009, p. 192. (ii) ‘Men With Custer – Biographies of the 7th Cavalry,’ Edited by Ronald H. Nichols with Daniel I. Bird, CBHMA Inc., 2010, p. 238.