(Deeds of Valor: How America’s Heroes Won the Medal of Honor, Vol. 1 by Beyer and Keydel)
Born in Indiana in 1844, James Dunlavy was living in Bloomfield, Iowa, when he mustered in as a private in Company D, 3d Iowa Cavalry. On October 25, 1864, during the Battle of Mine Creek, Private Dunlavy happened to be in the right place at the right time. Dunlavy had been wounded in his left arm when he happened upon a Confederate officer. He demanded the officer surrender, disarmed him, and began leading him back to the rear. Only when he was met by Col. Charles W. Blair did Dunlavy find out that his prisoner was Maj. Gen. John S. Marmaduke. On April 4, 1865, Dunlavy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for “gallantry in capturing Gen. Marmaduke.” Dunlavy mustered out of service on August 9, 1865, in Atlanta, Georgia. After the war ended, Dunlavy graduated from Keokuk Medical College and spent 32 years practicing medicine in Iowa.
Iowa Adjutant General, Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers Vol 4, 435, 489
Beyer and Keydel, Deeds of Valor Vol 1, 450—452; “Dunlavy, James,” accessed August 2, 2015, http://www.history.army.mil/moh/civilwar_af.html#DUNLAVY.