Harry L. Hawthorne

Harry LeRoy Hawthorne (November 27, 1859 – April 10, 1948) was a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions during the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Harry LeRoy Hawthorne
Born(1859-11-27)November 27, 1859
Minnesota
DiedApril 10, 1948(1948-04-10) (aged 88)
Place of burial
Arlington National Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service/branchUnited States Navy
United States Army
Years of service1882 - 1884 (Navy)
1884 - 1914, 1917 - 1919 (Army)
RankCadet Engineer (Navy)
Colonel (Army)
Unit2nd Artillery Regiment
Battles/warsWounded Knee Massacre
AwardsMedal of Honor

Hawthorne was born in 1859 in Minnesota. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1882, but after two years chose to take his commission in the United States Army.[1][2] He distinguished himself at was then called the Battle of Wounded Knee, but now commonly called the Wounded Knee Massacre receiving the Medal of Honor.[3] He made the Army a career, attending the Army War College and retiring as a colonel in 1914, and was recalled to serve during World War I.[4]

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization. 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd U.S. Artillery. Entered service at: Kentucky. Birth: 1860, Minnesota. Place/Date: At Wounded Knee Creek, S. Dak., 29 December 1890.

Citation:

Distinguished conduct in battle with hostile Indians.[5]

Controversy
Mass Grave for the Dead Lakota After the Engagement at Wounded Knee

There have been several attempts by various parties to rescind the Medals of Honor awarded in connection with the Battle of Wounded Knee.[6][7][8] Proponents claim that the engagement was in-fact a massacre and not a battle, due to the high number of killed and wounded Lakota women and children and the very one-sided casualty counts. Estimates of the Lakota losses indicate 150–300 killed, of which up to 200 were women and children. Additionally, as many as 51 were wounded. In contrast, the 7th Cavalry suffered 25 killed and 39 wounded, many being the result of friendly fire.[9][10][11]

Calvin Spotted Elk, direct descendant of Chief Spotted Elk killed at Wounded Knee, launched a petition to rescind medals from the soldiers who participated in the battle.[12]

The Army has also been criticized more generally for the seemingly disproportionate number of Medals of Honor awarded in connection with the battle.[13] For comparison, 20 Medals were awarded at Wounded Knee, 21 at the Battle of Cedar Creek, and 20 at the Battle of Antietam.[13][14] Respectively, Cedar Creek and Antietam involved 52,712 and 113,000 troops, suffering 8,674 and 22,717 casualties.[15][16][17][18][19] Wounded Knee, however, involved 610 combatants and resulted in as many as 705 casualties (including non-combatants).[20][9]

See also

References
Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.
  1. "Medal of Honor recipients". United States Naval Academy. Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  2. "Harry L. Hawthorne". United States Naval Academy. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  3. "Indian War Campaigns". United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 2013-08-03. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  4. "Harry LeRoy Hawthorne". Arlington National Cemetery. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  5. "Hawthorne, Harry L." Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  6. Dana Lone Hill (February 18, 2013). "The Wounded Knee medals of honor should be rescinded". the Guardian. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  7. "No Medals for Massacre: Close the Open Wound of Wounded Knee". The Huffington Post. February 12, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  8. "Lakota~WOUNDED KNEE: A Campaign to Rescind Medals: story, pictures and information". Footnote.com. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  9. "Plains Humanities: Wounded Knee Massacre". Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  10. "The 110th Anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre". perspicuity.net. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  11. "Wagner...Part Two". dickshovel.com. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  12. Joseph Huff-Hannon (February 12, 2013). "No Medals for massacre: Close the Open Wound of Wounded Knee". Huffington Post.
  13. Green, Jerry (1994). "The Medals of Wounded Knee". Nebraska State Historical Society, also available in Nebraska History #75, pp. 200–208. Nebraska State Historical Society History.
  14. Owens, Ronald J. (2004) Medal of Honor: Historical facts and figures. Turner Publishing Company
  15. Whitehorne, p. 15. The NPS battle summary lists Union strength of 31,945. Cullen, p. 111, states 35,000 Union effectives, including 10,000 cavalry. Salmon, p. 368, and Kennedy, p. 319, state 32,000 Union.
  16. Whitehorne, p. 17. The NPS battle summary and Kennedy, p. 319, list Confederate strength of 21,000. Cullen, p. 112, states 18,000 Confederate effectives, including 4,000 cavalry.
  17. Wert, p. 246, Eicher, p. 752. Lewis, p. 288, reports Union totals as 5,764 (569 killed, 3,425 wounded, 1,770 missing), Confederates 3,060 (1,860 killed and wounded, 1,200 prisoners). Kennedy, p. 323, reports 5,672 Union, 2,910 Confederate. The NPS battle summary reports 5,665 Union, 2,910 Confederate. Salmon, p. 372, reports Union "almost 5,700", Confederate "almost 3,000."
  18. Eicher, p. 363. Sears, p. 173, cites 75,000 Union troops, with an effective strength of 71,500, with 300 guns; on p. 296, he states that the 12,401 Union casualties were 25% of those who went into action and that McClellan committed "barely 50,000 infantry and artillerymen to the contest"; p. 389, he cites Confederate effective strength of "just over 38,000," including A.P. Hill's division, which arrived in the afternoon. Priest, p. 343, cites 87,164 men present in the Army of the Potomac, with 53,632 engaged, and 30,646 engaged in the Army of Northern Virginia. Luvaas and Nelson, p. 302, cite 87,100 Union engaged, 51,800 Confederate. Harsh, Sounding the Shallows, pp. 201–202, analyzes the historiography of the figures, and shows that Ezra A. Carman (a battlefield historian who influenced some of these sources) used "engaged" figures; the 38,000 excludes Pender's and Field's brigades, roughly half the artillery, and forces used to secure objectives behind the line.
  19. Sears, pp. 294–96; Cannan, p. 201. Confederate casualties are estimates because reported figures include undifferentiated casualties at South Mountain and Shepherdstown; Sears remarks that "there is no doubt that a good many of the 1,771 men listed as missing were in fact dead, buried uncounted in unmarked graves where they fell." McPherson, p. 129, gives ranges for the Confederate losses: 1,546–2,700 dead, 7,752–9,024 wounded. He states that more than 2,000 of the wounded on both sides died from their wounds. Priest, p. 343, reports 12,882 Union casualties (2,157 killed, 9,716 wounded, 1,009 missing or captured) and 11,530 Confederate (1,754 killed, 8,649 wounded, 1,127 missing or captured). Luvaas and Nelson, p. 302, cite Union casualties of 12,469 (2,010 killed, 9,416 wounded, 1,043 missing or captured) and 10,292 Confederate (1,567 killed, 8,725 wounded for September 14–20, plus approximately 2,000 missing or captured).
  20. Brown, p. 178, Brown states that at the army camp, "the Indians were carefully counted." Utley, p. 204, gives 120 men, 230 women and children; there is no indication how many were warriors, old men, or incapacitated sick like Big Foot.
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