Rank: First Sergeant
Unit: A Trp, 2d Cavalry
Reenlisted: May 2, 1884 in Chicago, Illinois. He was 27.
Date of birth: 1857
Hometown: Montgomery County, Maryland
Occupation prior to enlistment: Laborer
Campaign: Plains Indian War (post Civil War)
Died: 5 July 1887
Age at death: 29 or 30
Cause of death: Murder by a disgruntled Private
Location of fatality: Presidio of San Francisco, California
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Place of interment: San Francisco National Cemetery in San Francisco, California
Click to open a new window to view Soldier’s grave site on the Find A Grave website.
Note: He stood 5’6 1/2″ with hazel eyes, dark hair, and dark complexion.
Original enlistment was April 3, 1879 in St. Louis, Missouri into Company L, 2d Cavalry. He was 22. He was discharged April 2, 1884 at Fort Custer, Montana Territory for expiration of service and the rank of First Sergeant and character noted as excellent.
“Whiskey is the Enemy Most Formidable in This Campaign” Captain Gustavus Cheyney Doane’s Fight With Boredom and Vice during the Geronimo Pursuit. By: Kim Allen Scott
THE JOURNAL OF ARIZONA HISTORY VOLUME 48, # 1 Spring 2007 page 39-40 – With no duty to perform at the Gila River camp, outside of sleeping and consuming rations, it is not surprising that some men looked for less wholesome diversions than fishing or quail hunting. Doane depended on his non-commissioned officers to help keep the men occupied. One sergeant, however, made the situation worse. Doane had relieved SAMUEL SOPER as first sergeant after his arrest at Bowie Station. During the intervening weeks, SOPER attempted to redeem himself by carefully attending to duty at the Gila River Camp. Mary, meanwhile, warned her husband that a trooper at the Presidio informed her SOPER had been drinking heavily even before leaving California and that he was ” on the broad road, ” but Doane was reluctant to believe her. Subsequently, on February 11, he allowed the sergeant to ride into Solomonville for the mail. SOPER and Pvt. Philip A. Smith wasted no time finding whiskey while in town. The drunken sergeant fell off his horse during the ride back to camp, forcing Doane to send troopers out after dark to collect the wayward soldiers. ” I am extremely disappointed and disgusted with SOPER, ” Doane wrote. ” He seems to have no control over his appetite whatever.” At least SOPER did not compound his intemperance with more serious crimes. Private Smith, on the other hand, deserted on April 1.
DEFENDER OF THE GATE: The Presidio of San Francisco A History by Erwin N. Thompson page 125 – Tragedy came to the Presidio in 1887 when Private Thomas Bateman murdered his Sergeant, SAMUEL SOPER. The dispute began when SOPER assigned a horse to Bateman on July 4 that neither belonged to him nor suited him. They argued. That night in the city Bateman ran into SOPER and his companions in a bar. The argument resumed and the sergeants beat upon the private. The next morning Bateman, still intoxicated, failed to make reveille. SOPER awakened him and “used the most abusive language toward him, and called him vile names.” Bateman shot the sergeant in the first murder that occurred at the post. The Army turned Bateman over to civil authorities.
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER: 1866 – 1916 The Enlisted Man and the Transformation of the United States Army By: John A. Haymond: One First Sergeant in the 2nd Cavalry named SAMUEL SOPER had a reputation for being a bully with a predilection for engaging in personal quarrels with the junior enlisted men in his troop, in particular one man named Private Thomas Bateman. After several incidents where Bateman was the target of SOPER’S animosity, the First Sergeant and two other NCO’s encountered Bateman in a San Francisco saloon. The three NCO’s were drunk, and they proceeded to beat the hell out of the private. The next morning SOPER went after Bateman again in the barracks. it was a fatal mistake, because by that point Bateman had apparently decided he had all the abuse he was going to take. He drew his service pistol and shot SOPER dead on the spot. The ensuing court-martial acquitted Bateman of the murder charge on a technicality and he walked free, which was probably a fairer result than the strict letter of the law might have appreciated.