James Pym

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Private '''James Pym''' (1852 – November 29, 1893) was a British-born soldier in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] who served with the [[7th Cavalry]] during the [[Great Sioux War of 1876-77]]. He was one of twenty-four men who received the [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantry, Pym being among those who volunteered to carry water from the [[Little Bighorn River]] to wounded soldiers on [[Battle of the Little Bighorn#Reno and Benteen on Reno Hill|Reno Hill]], at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] on June 25, 1876.
 
Private '''James Pym''' (1852 – November 29, 1893) was a British-born soldier in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] who served with the [[7th Cavalry]] during the [[Great Sioux War of 1876-77]]. He was one of twenty-four men who received the [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantry, Pym being among those who volunteered to carry water from the [[Little Bighorn River]] to wounded soldiers on [[Battle of the Little Bighorn#Reno and Benteen on Reno Hill|Reno Hill]], at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] on June 25, 1876.
  
==Biography==
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==Biography (short)==
 
James Pym was born in Garsington, [[Oxfordshire, England]] in either 1847 or 1852. According to historian Peter G. Russell, he may have deserted from the British Army and changed the date of his birth after leaving the country. Emigrating to the United States, he enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army in Boston, Massachusetts on December 11, 1874. Pym saw action with the 7th Cavalry Regiment during the [[Great Sioux War of 1876-77]] and, at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] on June 25, [[1876]], was one of fifteen soldiers who volunteered to carry water to wounded soldiers at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn#Reno and Benteen on Reno Hill|Reno-Benteen site]]. Five sharpshooters put themselves in an exposed position to cover Pym and the other men as they spent four hours carrying water in cast iron canteens and cookware 80 yards from the Little Bighorn River to Reno Hill under heavy fire. The men were ambushed by [[Sioux]] warriors, concealed in bushes along the river, and Pym was wounded in the right ankle. He and the rest of the Little Bighorn water carriers were among the twenty-four members who received the [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantry on October 5, 1878.
 
James Pym was born in Garsington, [[Oxfordshire, England]] in either 1847 or 1852. According to historian Peter G. Russell, he may have deserted from the British Army and changed the date of his birth after leaving the country. Emigrating to the United States, he enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army in Boston, Massachusetts on December 11, 1874. Pym saw action with the 7th Cavalry Regiment during the [[Great Sioux War of 1876-77]] and, at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] on June 25, [[1876]], was one of fifteen soldiers who volunteered to carry water to wounded soldiers at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn#Reno and Benteen on Reno Hill|Reno-Benteen site]]. Five sharpshooters put themselves in an exposed position to cover Pym and the other men as they spent four hours carrying water in cast iron canteens and cookware 80 yards from the Little Bighorn River to Reno Hill under heavy fire. The men were ambushed by [[Sioux]] warriors, concealed in bushes along the river, and Pym was wounded in the right ankle. He and the rest of the Little Bighorn water carriers were among the twenty-four members who received the [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantry on October 5, 1878.
  
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In the fall of 2009, Eastern Montana Veterans Cemetery staff asked Ed Saunders, a retired Army officer living in Montana who specializes in researching and preparing cases for medals for military veterans, to investigate the grave sites of Pym and First Sergeant Henry Hogan, a dual Medal of Honor recipient also buried in Custer County Cemetery, to see if both their weathered and barely legible Medal of Honor headstones could be replaced. Neither Pym nor Hogan had any known relatives to petition the government to replace them, so Saunders prepared cases for both men and wrote to the U.S. Veterans' Administration himself. After seven months, officials granted Saunders' request and the new headstones arrived in time for Memorial Day, [[2010]]. Saunders and Kurt Holmlund, superintendent of Eastern Montana State Veterans Cemetery, both replaced the newer headstones with assistance from the local community.
 
In the fall of 2009, Eastern Montana Veterans Cemetery staff asked Ed Saunders, a retired Army officer living in Montana who specializes in researching and preparing cases for medals for military veterans, to investigate the grave sites of Pym and First Sergeant Henry Hogan, a dual Medal of Honor recipient also buried in Custer County Cemetery, to see if both their weathered and barely legible Medal of Honor headstones could be replaced. Neither Pym nor Hogan had any known relatives to petition the government to replace them, so Saunders prepared cases for both men and wrote to the U.S. Veterans' Administration himself. After seven months, officials granted Saunders' request and the new headstones arrived in time for Memorial Day, [[2010]]. Saunders and Kurt Holmlund, superintendent of Eastern Montana State Veterans Cemetery, both replaced the newer headstones with assistance from the local community.
  
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==Biography (complete)==
  
A branch of the Pym family flourished in this near-idyllic Oxfordshire village for over 400 years and can be traced to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I without difficulty,2 but our story really begins on 28 February 1846 when 19 year-old Joseph Pym, an ostler, married 20 year-old Sabina Ballard, a general servant from the village of Charney Bassett, at the Register Office in Oxford.3 The young couple set up home in Garsington, then a close-knit community of around 600 souls, where they became near neighbours of the William Quartermain referred to above and who would have been well known to them.
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The Pym family lived in Oxfordshire for over 400 years. James' father, 19 year-old Joseph Pym, an ostler, married 20 year-old Sabina Ballard, a general servant from the village of Charney Bassett, at the Register Office in Oxford on 28 February 1846. The young couple set up home in Garsington, then a close-knit community of around 600 souls.
  
Joseph and Sabina were destined to have eight children, the second eldest of which, James, was born at Southend, Garsington, on 7 November 1847.4 The infant was christened at the parish church of St. Mary by the Rev. James Ingram, President of Trinity College, Oxford, on 5 December; the same day that George Armstrong Custer was celebrating his eighth birthday. Nothing is known of James “Jim” Pym’s early life other than he attended school and at age 13 was working as a ploughboy, probably one of seven employed by Joseph Gale on his 420 acre farm in the same parish.5
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Joseph and Sabina were destined to have eight children, the second eldest of which, James, was born at Southend, Garsington, on 7 November 1847. The infant was christened at the parish church of St. Mary by the Rev. James Ingram, President of Trinity College, Oxford, on 5 December; the same day that George Armstrong Custer was celebrating his eighth birthday. Nothing is known of James “Jim” Pym’s early life other than he attended school and at age 13 was working as a ploughboy, probably one of seven employed by Joseph Gale on his 420 acre farm in the same parish.
  
St Mary's Church Garsington, with a Norman tower and 13th and 14th century side aisles, stands on a raised hilltop site with sweeping views across the Thames Valley. Author's collection.
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When he was 17, an incident that took place on 14 April 1865, just five days after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, resulting in a charge of “attempt to commit an unnatural crime with a mare”, based on the eye-witness account of John Quartermain, a 19 year-old farm labourer, and an initial confession of guilt by the defendant. Pym (under the name Pimm) duly appeared at the Court of Quarter Sessions in Oxford on Monday, 26 June 1865, and despite a plea of “All I wish to say is that I never did it,” was found guilty as charged and sentenced to a term of six months imprisonment. It is highly unlikely therefore that a disgraced Pym ever returned to live permanently in his native village.
 
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Garsington Village School. James Pym was a pupil here. Author's photograph.
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However, it was an incident that took place on 14 April 1865, just five days after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, that was to have a profound effect on young Pym’s life. The details of this most distressing affair need not overly concern us here but a charge of “attempt to commit an unnatural crime with a mare” was brought against him, based on the eye-witness account of John Quartermain, a 19 year-old farm labourer, and an initial confession of guilt by the defendant.6 Pym (under the name Pimm) duly appeared at the Court of Quarter Sessions in Oxford on Monday, 26 June 1865, and despite a plea of “All I wish to say is that I never did it,” was found guilty as charged and sentenced to a term of six months imprisonment.7Clearly what happened in Farmer Joseph Gale’s stable was beyond the pale and it is highly unlikely therefore that a disgraced Pym ever returned to live permanently in his native village.
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Enlists in United States Army
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Nothing further is heard of this wayward ploughboy until 11 December 1874 when he presented himself at the U.S. Army recruiting office in Boston, Massachusetts, unless, that is, he was the subject of a tantalising story that has been handed down through four generations of another branch of the Pym family. It tells of a James Pym calling at the home of Emanuel and Elizabeth Pym in Oakley, Buckinghamshire, a small farming village not more than 10 miles from Garsington. Apparently he was “dressed in funny clothes and high-heeled boots,” and left behind a reputation in the family as being a “nasty, crude piece of work.” The fact that this incident most likely took place during the late 1860s, the visitor having confessed to being “a deserter from the British Army,” and afterwards “he went away to London never to be heard of again,” all add weight to the possibility that he was the same man who served in the 7th Cavalry?8
 
Nothing further is heard of this wayward ploughboy until 11 December 1874 when he presented himself at the U.S. Army recruiting office in Boston, Massachusetts, unless, that is, he was the subject of a tantalising story that has been handed down through four generations of another branch of the Pym family. It tells of a James Pym calling at the home of Emanuel and Elizabeth Pym in Oakley, Buckinghamshire, a small farming village not more than 10 miles from Garsington. Apparently he was “dressed in funny clothes and high-heeled boots,” and left behind a reputation in the family as being a “nasty, crude piece of work.” The fact that this incident most likely took place during the late 1860s, the visitor having confessed to being “a deserter from the British Army,” and afterwards “he went away to London never to be heard of again,” all add weight to the possibility that he was the same man who served in the 7th Cavalry?8

Revision as of 08:34, 24 November 2013

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