Medal of Honor: Sergeant Bernard Taylor

Bernard Taylor was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1844. He later enlisted in the United States Army in Washington, D.C. as a private with Company A of the 5th Cavalry. Assigned to frontier duty in the Arizona Territory, Taylor saw action during the Apache Wars and eventually rose the rank of sergeant. He was described as "an admirable specimen of the Irish-American soldier.”

Taylor was called ‘Barney’ by the troopers when off duty, but respectfully addressed ‘Sergeant’ at all other times. Both King and Eaton knew him well. He had been in many a scout and skirmish with the regiment, and was hailed as a daring, resolute, intelligent man, and a non-commissioned officer of high merit.” He was an expert horseman, a quick and accurate shot, a gallant and enthusiastic trooper, and never more enthusiastically in his element than in the rough mountain scouting.

On November 1, 1874, Taylor left Camp Verde with a small cavalry patrol headed by First Lieutenant Charles King in pursuit of a hostile Apache war party. After making camp at Sunset Pass, near the Little Colorado River, Taylor and a group of Apache Indian scouts accompanied King to a high vantage point where he could better observe the surrounding area.

While climbing to the summit of a steep mesa, between half to three-fourths of a mile from the camp, the party was ambushed by a band of Tonto Apaches. They had been concealed in the rocks waiting for their approach.

King was seriously wounded in the first moments of the attack as an arrow struck his head and another cut the muscles at the corner of his eye. He was finally brought down by a rifle shot which hit his right arm near the shoulder blade and collapsed to the ground.

Taylor rescued the half conscious officer and, while under heavy fire, carried him half a mile back to their encampment, firing his carbine throughout their retreat at their pursuers.

King implored, then ordered Taylor to save himself and leave him behind, but Taylor continued on, knowing what would happen to King, whom he loved and respected. The shots and arrows increased in density and frequency.

“Here come the boys, Sir!” exclaimed, Taylor to King, seeing the rest of their men approach—just as both men were about to collapse—Taylor from exhaustion, and King from his wounds.

King was brought back to Camp Verde while Lieutenant George O. Eaton, then commandant of the camp, continued the pursuit.

Taylor was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his heroic act and received the award on April 12, 1875. He was one of three regimental members, including fellow Sergeants George Deary and Rudolph von Medem, who also received the award.

Near the end of the campaign, two days after being issued the Medal of Honor, Taylor died of lung congestion at Camp Verde shortly before his regiment began its homeward march. His body was taken to California where it was interred at San Francisco National Cemetery, on the central approach to the cemetery’s flagpole.

Born in Missouri, enlisted in Washington, DC, fought in Colorado and Arizona, buried in San Francisco. He experienced the country he defended, fully—coast to coast.