Indian Wars Medal of Honor Recipient. He was a 17-year-old native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when he was enrolled on June 20, 1861, in the 29th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry after the start of the Civil War. Mustered in as a Private in Company I on July 9, 1861, He re-enlisted while his unit was serving at Wauhatchie, Tennessee, on December 8, 1863, and he was promoted to Sergeant on December 31, 1863. The regiment fought in the battles around Chattanooga, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, and through the Carolinas, seeing the war to its conclusion. Sergeant Comfort was honorably mustered out on July 17, 1865, but opted to make the Army his career upon leaving the Volunteer service. On November 28, 1865, he enlisted in the Regular United States Army and was assigned to Battery K of the 1st United States Artillery, which was stationed at Brownsville, Texas. After serving a full three years, he was discharged at Greenville, Louisiana. He re-enlisted again in Philadelphia on April 18, 1870, and was assigned to Company A, 4th United States Regular Cavalry, eventually rising to Sergeant. While serving during the War with the Plains Indians as a Corporal in the cavalry, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery during a battle against the Kiowa and Commanche Indians near Lake Tahokay, Staked Plains, Texas, on November 5, 1874. While his citation for that action reads simply "Ran down and killed an Indian," the officer who recommended him for the Medal, 4th Cavalry commander Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, stated fully "that Corporal Comfort ran down and killed an Indian on the Staked Plains with no other soldier within a long distance of him...This man is a very distinguished soldier for personal gallantry." As a result, John Comfort was awarded the Medal of Honor on October 13, 1875. His Army career would continue until his retirement in 1892, and he would later serve in Batteries E and A of the 1st United States Regular Artillery.