Francis Oliver was born in
Baltimore, Maryland in about 1832. Enlisting in the
U.S. Army at
Fort Fillmore, New Mexico, he was assigned to frontier duty with the
1st U.S. Cavalry and eventually reached the rank of
first sergeant. Oliver saw action against the
Apache in the
Arizona Territory during the late 1860s, most notably, during the "Campaign of the Rocky Mesa" in late 1869. He was among the members of the 1st and 8th Cavalry, under the commands of Lieutenant William H. Winters and Captain
Reuben F. Bernard, who pursued an Apache raiding party led by
Cochise that had massacred a stage coach en route to
Tucson and attacked a group of cowboys in the
Sulphur Springs Valley on October 5, 1868. The cavalry detachment pursued the Apache to Cochise's stronghold in the
Chiricahua Mountains where they did battle on October 20, 1869. Oliver led a group of troopers during the fight and was cited for bravery in action. He was among the 32 soldiers who received the
Medal of Honor on February 14, 1870. Oliver died in
Lewiston, Idaho on July 28, 1880, and buried in Normal Hill Cemetery. ==Medal of Honor citation==