Jacob Trautman

First Sergeant Jacob Trautman (1840 – November 7, 1898) was a German-born soldier in the U.S. Army who served with the 7th U.S. Cavalry during the Indian Wars. He was one of twenty-three men who received the Medal of Honor for gallantry, killing a Sioux warrior in armed combat, at what was then called the Battle of Wounded Knee, but now commonly called the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890.

Jacob Trautman was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1840. He emigrated to the United States and enlisted in the United States Army in Pittsburgh. He served on the frontier with the famed 7th Cavalry Regiment, being a veteran of the Indian Wars against the Plains Indians, and eventually reached the rank of first sergeant. Sent to arrest the Sioux chieftain Big Foot and disarm his 350 followers, he was among the cavalry troopers who, on the morning of December 29, 1890, surrounded his camp on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. Trautman distinguished himself by killing an armed Sioux warrior "at close quarters", and was among the 23 cavalrymen who received the Medal of Honor. Although he was entitled to retire with pension due to his age and long years of service, he volunteered to remain with Company I and lead his men until the end of the campaign. Trautman returned to Pittsburgh where he died on November 7, 1898, at the age of 58. He was buried at South Side Cemetery and is the only MOH recipient to be interred there.

Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company I, 7th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Wounded Knee Creek, S. Dak., 29 December 1890. Entered service at: --. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 27 March 1891.

Citation:

Killed a hostile Indian at close quarters, and, although entitled to retirement from service, remained to the close of the campaign.