[2] By January 13, 1877, he was serving as a corporal in Company A of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment[1] in the midst of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77.

[3] On that day, Bessey and three privates were repairing a telegraph line between Forts Laramie and Fetterman in eastern Wyoming Territory when they learned that Native Americans had attacked three herders close by,[3] near Elkhorn Creek.

[1] Bessey led his small group against the much larger Native American force and successfully rescued the herders, although he and two of his men were wounded in the process.

[3] For these actions, the four men were commended in general orders[3] and, thirteen years later on May 15, 1890, Bessey was awarded the Medal of Honor.

He retired in 1899 and died ten years later of kidney failure, probably caused by the wound he received near Elkhorn Creek.