Richard was born on the 24th of June 1867, in Logan County, Illinois, an area in central Illinois near Lincoln, where he grew up with one brother. Not much else is known about his life other than he enlisted in, what is now the North Dakota National Guard, and he was deployed with Company A of the 1st North Dakota Infantry to the Philippines in 1899. It was his actions as a Private with Young’s Scouts that would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

With 21 other scouts charged across a burning bridge, under heavy fire, and completely routed 600 of the enemy who were entrenched in a strongly fortified position.

As mentioned in the story of John Kinne, Young’s Scouts were moving through Filipino-controlled areas when they encountered a bridge crossing the Cabon River. The enemy set the bridge on fire and the scouts had charged the bridge and dispersed the enemy before extinguishing the bridge. Richard received the Medal of Honor on the 4th of April 1906, and he was married to Annie, with whom they had seven children. They had moved to Lewiston, Idaho, in 1915 where they remained and raised their family. Richard Moses Longfellow died on the 17th of May 1951, at the age of 83 and he is buried with his wife in the Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, Idaho: Division 4, Row 26, Lot 26, Grave 9.