He was the FIRST medal of Honor recipient from the 9th Calvary. 1870

found this snippet from The diary of Captain August Corliss "...Christmas Day (1876) 1st Sergeant Emmanuel Stance, Troop F, 9th Cavalry, was murdered between the Post & Crawford last evening, probably by men of his own troop."

it could well be that a big thing was made of the 50th anniversary of either his medal or of his death; and the name was remembered from that.