Theodore W. Goldin

Theodore W. Goldin (July 25, 1858 – February 15, 1935) served in the United States Army during the American Indian Wars. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Early and personal life Goldin was adopted as an infant by Reuben W. Goldin and Elizabeth E. Bradfield Goldin of Avon, Wisconsin. His birth name has been lost. When Goldin was four, his family moved to Brodhead, Wisconsin.

Goldin married Laura Belle Dunwiddie in 1881. The couple had one son, Herbert D. Goldin, in 1884. Laura died in 1911, and Goldin married Sarah J. Murphy in 1929. He served as assistant chief clerk of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1882 to 1885. Goldin moved in Janesville in 1885, where he engaged in private practice. In 1889, Goldin was appointed a colonel in the Wisconsin National Guard and served as inspector for rifle practice. From 1903 to 1904, Goldin was chief clerk of the Wisconsin Senate.

Around the start of the 20th century, Goldin served as Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. But when "Fighting Bob" La Follette ended up winning re-election that fall, Goldin's political career in Wisconsin was finished.

Goldin soon after moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he worked as a director of the YMCA in 1907. He wandered around the southwestern United States, landing in Oklahoma City in 1911, Colorado and El Paso, Texas, in 1912.

He retired to the Masonic Home in Dousman, Wisconsin, in 1924. In 1929, he moved to the Wisconsin Veterans Home in the town of King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, where he died in 1935. When others challenged his claims, Goldin claimed that Brady had distorted his letter.

In 1924, a Missouri congressman helped Goldin obtain a pension as a Medal of Honor recipient through a special act of Congress. In 1927, he was able to change his discharge from "not honorable" (having lied about his age) to "honorable" with the help of prominent friends.

Goldin carried on, for some years between 1891 and 1896, a correspondence with Captain Benteen, and the two became friends. Benteen's letters (but not Goldin's replies, which have not been preserved) were eventually published as the Benteen-Goldin Letters and are one of the few primary sources for Benteen's views on the battle.

Medal of Honor citation His award citation for his actions in the Battle of Little Big Horn reads: One of a party of volunteers who, under a heavy fire from the Indians, went for and brought water to the wounded.