DOB/DOD: January 12, 1878 (New River, TN) – August 20, 1940 (Hartford, CT); 62 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Emma Caroline Schenck (1883-1942) on September 29, 1904, in Fayette, Kentucky.
CHILDREN: One daughter, Emma Caroline S. Cecil Buttram (1919-2003).
ENLISTMENT: July 8, 1898, in the 4th Tennessee Infantry.
PROMOTION: Promoted to Colonel on August 9, 1918.
DISCHARGE: March 26, 1920.
FAMILY: Born to Judge Beaty Cecil (1849-1931) and Pauline Elmira “Polly” Buttram Cecil (1858-1938). Five brothers, John R. (1875-1961), Thomas J. (1885-1974), Alexander (1886-1888), Henry (1888-1933), and James J. (1893-1976). One sister, Minnie Cecil Beanblossom Cook (1880-1967).
* Colonel was his rank at retirement. His first name is “Joseph” in some places.
MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING: Philippine Insurrection
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army
Unit: United States 19th Infantry
GENERAL ORDERS: War Department, General Orders No. 7, February 3, 1913
AGE ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT: 28
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Joseph Samuel Cecil, United States Army, for most distinguished gallantry on 7 March 1906, while serving with 19th Infantry, in action at Mount Bud Dajo, Jolo, Philippine Islands. While at the head of the column about to assault the first cotta under a superior fire at short range, First Lieutenant Cecil personally carried to a sheltered position a wounded man and the body of one who was killed beside him.
Date of Presentation: January 23, 1913, in the White House by President Howard Taft.
From the Tipton (Indiana) Daily Tribune January 24, 1913
FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION
President Taft Pins Medal on Breast of Tennessee Soldier
Washington, Jan. 24. – President Taft yesterday pinned on the breast of Captain Joseph S. Cecil, Eighteenth Infantry, a native of Tennessee, a congressional medal for “Gallantry in action.”
The ceremony took place at the White House and was attended by Secretary of War Stimson and Major General Leonard Wood, Chief of Staff of the Army.
The medal was awarded to Captain Cecil for his bravery in the Battle of Bud-Jalo in the Philippines in 1906, when the officer, then a Lieutenant, led a small detachment of volunteers up to a point within 30 yards of the enemy and drew their fire while the main body of troops executed a flank movement.
From the Hartford Courant August 21, 1940
ARMY HERO TAKES LIFE BY PLUNGE FROM SIXTH FLOOR OF LOCAL HOTEL
A retired colonel of Infantry, United States Army, and holder of a Congressional Medal of Honor, Joseph S. Cecil, 62, plunged to his death shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday from a window on the sixth floor of the Hotel Bond to a cement driveway below. Medical Examiner Perry T. Hough, giving a finding of suicide, said that the death was instantaneous.
Colonel Cecil of Falmouth, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC, appeared at the hotel desk shortly before 4 p.m. and asked for a cool room, according to the assistant manager, Griffith R. Davies. He declined to register, explaining that he would return the following day to take the room. He was perspiring freely and wiped his face frequently with a handkerchief.
A bellhop, Theodore Allegra, took him in the elevator to the sixth ‘floor and into one of the hotel rooms on the west side of the building. Allegra opened the window to air out the room. Colonel Gecil, the bellboy, later told Detectives Edmund Lowe and Joseph Lynch, raised the screen, leaned out, and asked several questions about the names of streets in the vicinity.
Colonel Cecil suggested that an electric fan would aid in cooling the room. Allegra said he pulled down the screen before leaving the room to get the fan. When he returned, the room was empty, and the screen was raised. He returned to the elevator to learn whether the operator had taken the man down and was informed that the man had been found Iying in the concrete driveway on the west side of the hotel.
Hotel authorities immediately called the hotel physician, Dr. F. Arthur Emmett, from his office at 410 Asylum Street, near the hotel. Dr. Emmett found the man dead. Medical Examiner Hough arrived at the scene shortly afterward. The man’s skull and both wrists were fractured, Dr. Hough raid. Hastily ‘summoned police officers blocked off the areaway where the body lay and kept a large crowd of spectators on the Asylum Street sidewalk.
Police found only a 1940 membership card of the Army and Navy Legion of Valor, USA, bearing Colonel Cecil’s name. a cheap billfold, and an eyeglass case stamped with the name of a Somerset, Kentucky optometrist in the man’s pockets. It was later established, however, that Colonel Cecil had been a patient in various mental hospitals and had recently come here for treatment.
According to the official Army register. Colonel Cecil was retired for disability in line of duty in July 1922, after a career which began in 1888 with his enlistment in the Fourth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment to serve in the Spanish-American War. During the World War, while a major in the Regular Army, he was elevated to Colonel in the National Army. At the conclusion of the war, he reverted to his former rank and, in 1920, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He was given the rank of Colonel upon his retirement.
He leaves his wife. Mrs. Caroline Cecil of Falmouth. Mass, and a brother. Major Thomas J. Cecil, Coast Artillery Corps, retired, of St. Petersburg, Florida.
The body was taken to the funeral home of James P. O’Brien, pending funeral arrangements.
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Drive, Arlington, Virginia; Section 6, Grave 5718. Photo courtesy of Arlington National Cemetery.
In Memory Of marker in the family plot in Reed Cemetery, 1669 Glass House Road, New River, Tennessee. Photo courtesy of FindAGrave.com.
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