John Kile was a hero who came to a bad end. As a corporal in the 5th Cavalry, Kile won the Congressional Medal of Honor. In July 1869, he and two colleagues held off some Cheyenne warriors in Kansas. Kile apparently protected the other two in exemplary fashion.
But a year later, Kile and two members of the 7th Cavalry were in a Hays City, KS saloon. They attacked Wild Bill Hickok, apparently for no reason. Hickok managed to get his pistol out; he wounded one of the soldiers and killed Kile with a shot through the body.
https://truewestmagazine.com/power-redemption/
Related Articles
-
Western roundup of events where you can experience the Old West this September. Pictured above:…
-
Frontier Cavalry Trooper: The Letters of Private Eddie Matthews, 1869-1874, edited by Douglas C. McChristian,…
-
While most “making of” books are works of reverse engineering by outsiders, full of flawed…
