William Logan Day

by Henry Holman Dickinson

“Uncle William Logan Day, the first Barren County native to be awarded the Medal of Honor.”

William Logan Day was born in Barren County on his parent’s farm on Boyd’s Creek on September 21, 1836. He was the younger brother of Martha Virginia Day, the second wife of Thomas Childs Dickinson and he would have been an uncle to William Dickinson, our great grandfather.

William Logan Day lived on the Day Family Farm until the early 1860's and then moved to Louisville where he enlisted in the U S Army in August 1865. During his service, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, Company E and served as 1st Sergeant. In the winter of 187273 he was serving in Arizona near Fort McDowell (near present day Phoenix) with his regiment, which was under the command of General George Crook. On December 30, 1872 and on January 19, 1873, Sgt Day led his men in two engagements against the Apache Indians and these actions led to him being awarded the Medal of Honor on April 12, 1875.

According to Uncle Day (William Day Dickinson) who was named after his grandfather William Day (father of Martha Virginia Day and William Logan Day) William Logan Day was killed, along with George Armstrong Custer, at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. However, this is not correct. First of all, Custer commanded the 7th Cavalry and Sgt Day was always in the 5th Cavalry: Second, I have been to the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn and there is no record of William Logan Day being among the casualties of that Battle. Finally, the military records of William Logan Day (which I received from the military archives) reveal that Sgt Day was discharged from the army on November 10, 1878 at Fort McKinney, Wyoming Territory and the Battle of Little Big Horn was in June 1876.

I have been unable to find any record of any kind regarding William Logan Day since November 1878 and therefore the date and place of death of William Logan Day is unknown. Maybe someone in our family can determine what happened to William Logan Day after November 10, 1878. As far as I know, he was never married and had no children. However, he was only 42 when he was discharged from the Army and just maybe he moved to California or Arizona, married and had a big family. Who knows?