George Henry Palmer

George Henry Palmer (1840–1901) was a musician (bugler) in the 1st Illinois Volunteer Cavalry during the American Civil War. He received the country's highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for his action while fighting for the North at Lexington, Missouri, on September 20, 1861. He was honored with the award on March 10, 1896. Biography Born April 16, 1840, in Leonardsville, Madison County, New York, his family moved to Monmouth, Illinois, in 1845. He lived in Monmouth until 1855 when he went to live with his grandfather (Harding) at West Winfield, New York, where he attended the West Winfield Academy. He returned to Monmouth in 1857, enrolling in Monmouth College with the class of 1861. During the summer of 1860 he went to Chicago to attend Sloanes Commercial College (located on Washington Street near the Court House). Around this time he also worked for a farmer in McHenry County, and, being a Republican, he campaigned for the election of Abraham Lincoln. He returned to Monmouth in the autumn of 1860. Palmer was of military stock. His great-grandfather was a colonel in the Revolutionary War and was at Saratoga at Burgoyne's surrender. His grandfather was a major general of the New York state militia. His father was Paymaster and Captain of Dragoons, commissioned by William H. Seward, governor of New York. He was also an officer of cavalry in the Mexican–American War and captain of the First Illinois Cavalry during the American Civil War. In April 1861 he enlisted with the 17th Illinois Infantry and was the first man from Warren County to do so. When the Civil War broke out, many students, faculty, and administrators of Monmouth College enlisted in the military. In the end, another Monmouth College classmate along with Palmer would receive the Medal of Honor related to actions during the Civil War, or as Palmer referred to it in his journal, "the war of the Rebellion".