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YOUNT, JOHN P.--Medal of Honor recipient.
Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 3d U.S. Cavalry.
Place and date: At Whetstone Mountains, Ariz., 5 May 1871.
Entered service at: Sacramento, California, 27 August 1870.
Birth: Mar. 8, 1850, Henry County, Iowa.
Citation: Gallantry in action with Indians.
Death:   Dec. 11, 1872, Typhoid Fever, Fort McPherson, Lincoln County, Nebraska.
 
Indian Wars Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient.  He enlisted in Sacramento, California on August 27, 1870 and died from typhoid fever at Fort McPherson.  At the time of his death he was a private assigned to Company F, Third US Cavalry.  His company commander, Lt. Smead, wrote on the Record of Death and Interment that "The deceased was an excellent soldier and in 1871 the War Department awarded him a medal of honor for gallant services against hostile Indians in Arizona."  The action for which he received the Medal of Honor occurred on May 5, 1871 in the Whetstone Mountains of Arizona Territory.  His citation simply says "Gallantry in action with Indians."
(bio by: George Bacon, Director, Fort McPherson National Cemetery]
 
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Yount, John P. - Obituary, Transcribed by Lynn Ellsworth, archivist Iowa Wesleyan College.

 

Mt. Pleasant Journal, December 20, 1872
In memoriam - John P. Yount, of 3d United States Cavalry, died on the 11th inst., at Fort McPheron [sic], Nebraska.  His body was embalmed and brought to his home in this county.  His funeral services conducted by Rev. W.R. Cole took place on Sunday the 15th, at the Baptist Church nearby.  He was a noble young man, and leaves many warm friends to mourn his early death.  He was anxioust (sic) to serve his country as a soldier, and failing to find an opportunity to pursue a regular course of military study at West Point, he entered the army as a private, hoping to work his way up higher, but, alas! his promotion came in an unlooked for way.  Although cut off in the bloom of youth, it is a great comfort to his friends to know that he was ready and willing to die.  He survived his father by a few months.  May the angel of mercy bring comfort and consolation to this much bereaved family.

 

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John P. Yount's epitaph reads:
"Dearest Brother thy warfare is o’er
And thy face we shall see on earth no more,
But we Hope by grace Divine to meet thee,
Where we will be from death and sin set free."