Emanuel Stance

NPS Image / T. Engberg

Quick Facts

Significance:

Buffalo Soldier and Medal of Honor Recipient

Place of Birth:

Carroll Parish, Louisiana

Date of Birth:

1844

Place of Death:

Fort Robinson, Nebraska

Date of Death:

December 25, 1887

Place of Burial:

Maxwell, Nebraska

Cemetery Name:

Fort McPherson National Cemetery

Sergeant Emanuel Stance of the Ninth U.S. Cavalry was the first African American soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor in the post-Civil War era. Stance was born into slavery in Carroll Parish, Louisiana, in 1844. He enlisted in the Ninth U.S. Cavalry on October 2, 1866, with 50 other men in Lake Providence, Louisiana. At the time of his enlistment, Stance could read and write, which made him an attractive recruit; many formerly enslaved men were illiterate because of laws prohibiting them from instruction. His literacy gave him an advantage in his early days in the Ninth. He was promoted to sergeant in March 1867.

That same month, the Ninth Cavalry headed to Texas to take up its positions on the frontier. Stance was stationed at Fort Davis in Texas with F Troop, where he grew as a leader. In the summer of 1868, Stance oversaw a detachment of troopers working in the Quartermaster Department. He took his skills to the field in September, leading eight troopers on a patrol leaving from Fort Davis. Throughout 1869, Stance participated in numerous armed encounters with American Indians. That year, he logged more than 630 miles of hard riding, scouting, escorting, and fighting on behalf of the U.S. government. By the end of 1869, Stance and the other members of F Troop moved from Fort Davis to Fort McKavett.

On May 20, 1870, Captain Henry Carroll, the officer in charge of F Troop, learned that Apache Indians had abducted two young boys four days earlier about 40 miles east of Fort McKavett. Carroll sent Stance with a 10-man detachment to Kickapoo Springs to search for the boys and apprehend the kidnappers.

Fourteen miles from Fort McKavett, Stance and his detachment encountered a small group of Apaches. After a skirmish, the Apaches fled into the mountains. The troopers secured their horses and continued onto Kickapoo Springs, which was used as a subpost to guard the region’s mail and stage route. During the skirmish it is believed that the Apaches released one of the kidnapped boys, Willie Lehman. Willie arrived at the subpost the next day, bruised, cold, and very hungry. He was eventually reunited with his family. His brother, Herman, remained with his captors until 1878, when he arrived with a group of Comanche Indians at Fort Sill, in present-day Oklahoma.

For his actions during the March 1870 mission, Stance received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, on June 20, 1870. The accompanying citation read, “Gallantry on scout after Indians.”

Despite his meritorious service in this instance, Stance’s behavior in the army was less than admirable. He had a reputation as a good fighter with a bad temper, known for brawling, drunkenness, and failing to report for duty. Between July 1870 and April 1871, he was demoted to private, the rank he held when he completed his enlistment in 1871.

Shortly after his discharge, Stance reenlisted, this time in M Troop of the Ninth Cavalry, where he continued to struggle with military decorum. In December 1872, he got in a fight with his sergeant, Henry Green, who had reported him drunk while on duty. During the fight Stance bit off part of Green’s lower lip. Stance was again demoted and spent six months in the guardhouse before returning to M Troop.

Nevertheless, these infractions did not keep Stance from serving in the army. In January 1882, Stance reenlisted again with F Troop. His commanding officer, Captain Carroll, welcomed him back for his fourth term. Stance shortly after made sergeant again. In 1885, Carroll, Stance, and the other members of F Troop transferred to Fort Robinson, Nebraska.

While at Fort Robinson, Stance became the center of a series of disputes and brawls in F Troop toward the end of 1887. He had adopted a browbeating command style that he learned from racist officers under whom he served in the 1860s. In the 1880s, those tactics no longer worked to cow the Buffalo Soldiers. Instead, Stance’s actions toward the other troopers had tragic consequences.

On Christmas morning 1887, Stance was found shot to death on the road between Fort Robinson and Crawford, Nebraska. The murder weapon was believed to be a service revolver found close by. Many people at Fort Robinson, including officers, believed his own men murdered Stance in retaliation for his harsh treatment. He was buried at Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Section F, Site 1040, in Maxwell, Nebraska.