b. 1847 Tionesta, Forest County, Pennsylvania. d. 07/04/1876 Fort Bowie, Arizona Territory.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 20/10/1869 Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona Territory.
Spence was born in 1847 in Tionesta, Pennsylvania, and joined the Army in 1868. He was stationed at Fort Bowie in the Arizona Territory with Company G of the 8th Cavalry Regiment. On October 20, 1869, Spence earned a Medal of Honor for gallantry after a battle against a band of Apaches led by Cochise.
Spence was discharged from the army as a sergeant at Fort Selden, New Mexico in 1873. He married in 1874 and briefly resided in Grant County, New Mexico. He went on to work as a cook at the overland mail stage station at Sulphur Springs in the Arizona Territory.
On April 7, 1876, the station was raided by a band of Apaches led by Pionsenay after an argument over whiskey sales. Pionsenay shot and killed Spence and Nicholas Rogers, the station operator. The two were initially buried at the station, however, the bodies were later exhumed for interment at Fort Bowie.
MOH CITATION:
Gallantry in action.
BURIAL LOCATION: FORT BOWIE POST CEMETERY, FORT BOWIE, ARIZONA TERRITORY.
SECTION E, LOT 16, GRAVE 58.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
