b. 05/07/1843 Skaneateles, New York. d. 17/04/1916 Winona, Minnesota.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 20/11/1863 Knoxville, Tennessee.
Irwin Shepard MOH
Shepard was born in Skaneateles, New York, to Luman Shepard and Betsy L. Pangburn. He was of mixed English (father’s side) and Dutch (mother’s side) ancestry. When Shepard was 13, his family moved to Chelsea, Michigan. In 1859, he entered the Michigan State Normal School in Ypsilanti. After the war, Shepard received A.B., A.M., and PhD degrees from Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan. After graduating, Shepard became the Superintendent of Schools in Charles City, Iowa, in 1871. He married Mary Bassett Elmer in 1871 and fathered three children, of which two boys survived to adulthood, with one of them, Elmer, eventually becoming an assistant professor of mathematics at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Shepard moved to Winona, Minnesota, in 1875 to become the principal of Winona High School. In 1878, he was appointed Superintendent of the Winona Public School System, and in 1879, he was appointed President of the Winona State Normal School. He later established the first kindergarten program west of the Mississippi River and the first training course for kindergarten teachers west of the Mississippi. Finally, he established a “normal school diploma” that granted teachers the qualification to teach in the normal school system.
In 1893, Shepard became the secretary of the National Educational Association. He was also a member of the John Ball Post No. 45 G.A.R., Department of Minnesota.
MOH CITATION:
Having voluntarily accompanied a small party to destroy buildings within the enemy’s lines, whence sharpshooters had been firing, disregarded an order to retire, remained, and completed the firing of the buildings, thus insuring their total destruction; this at the imminent risk of his life from the fire of the advancing enemy.
BURIAL LOCATION: WOODLAWN CEMETERY, WINONA, MINNESOTA.
SECTION P, LOT 25, GRAVE 5.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
