Henry Wilkens (1855 – August 2, 1895) was a German-born soldier in the U.S. Army who served with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry during the Nez Perce War.
In the summer of 1877, he received the Medal of Honor for two separate engagements, Little Muddy Creek and Camas Meadows, against Lame Deer and the Nez Perce in the Idaho Territory.
During the Nez Perce War, he was among the cavalry troopers which did battle with various small bands of renegade Indians hiding throughout the Idaho Territory.
This included participating in the pursuit of a captured mule train and defending his fellow soldiers when the company was surrounded by the Nez Perce for several hours.
[4] He and the other MOH recipients of Camas Meadows were referenced in the 1998 historical novel Ashes of Heaven as part of Terry C. Johnston's Plainsmen Series.