it. He also sustained a number of saber cuts at the battle. One of them severed the bone in his nose. He received no medical attention for it and the bone gradually corroded and fell away "leaving a gaping hole in the roof of his mouth" and making it difficult for him to speak. Parnell had a metal plate made to cover the roof of his mouth allowing him to talk but also raising the pitch of his voice. The plate was very fragile and throughout his life Parnell was fearful he might break it. The plate would break six years later and he had to travel to Portland to have another one made and inserted. Parnell's war record was considered exceptional. He was wounded in battle several times, brevetted twice and had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel by the end of the war. After being mustered out of volunteer service, he applied to join the Regular Army. On 3 February 1866, Parnell was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Cavalry and won promotion to first lieutenant within eight months. In the summer of 1867, he and his company were sent to California where he was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Crook to take action against hostile Indians active on the Pit River. He was later appointed head of the 1st Cavalry by Crook. At the Battle of Infernal Caverns on 26–28 September 1867, Parnell was wounded by an arrow and brevetted for gallantry. He again served with Crook a year later battling Indians at Dunder and Blitzen Creek in Oregon on 14 March 1868. During 1872–73, Parnell also saw action with Captain David Perry in the Modoc War and in many other campaigns in the Pacific Northwest during the 1870s. He later penned a poem entitled "The Infernal Caverns" which appeared in the Army and Navy Journal on 26 October 1872. It was in the Nez Perce War in the Idaho Territory that Parnell particularly distinguished himself. On 17 June 1877, at the Battle of White Bird Canyon, Parnell led a small group of soldiers through a heavy fire to rescue Sergeant Michael McCarthy and six other men who had been assigned to defend a critical defensive position. Though two of McCarthy's men were killed, the rest managed to safely join Parnell and continued fighting. During the battle, Parnell turned back to rescue