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Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Drummer Benjamin Franklin Hilliker
Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He served during the Civil War as a Musician and drummer boy in Company A, 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery at Mechanicsburg, Mississippi, on June 4, 1863. His Medal was awarded to him on December 17, 1897. After the close of the war, he returned to Wisconsin and later moved to Michigan. Around 1889 he moved to Los Angeles, and was active in Grand Army of the Republic. Only months before his death, he participated in Memorial Day services, proudly beating the same drum that he had carried during the war. On his death bed, with his family gathered around, he spent his remaining moments instructing his children how to preserve his beloved drum and his cherished Medal of Honor.
Civil War Medal of Honor finds home in Lincoln Shrine
At the Lincoln Memorial Shrine's 33rd annual open house, one of the featured exhibits was the Medal of Honor awarded to Civil War drummer Benjamin Franklin Hilliker and recently donated to the shrine by Hilliker's descendants
By Bobbe Monk
For the Daily Facts
REDLANDS Don McCue called the Medal of Honor given to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands recently "the most significant donation in the last 18 years."
McCue, curator of the shrine, made the statement Sunday during the 33rd annual open house held at the shrine before Abraham Lincoln's birthday each year.
During the afternoon, descendants of Benjamin Franklin Hilliker, who received the medal during the Civil War, were spotlighted and thanked.
Hilliker reportedly earned his medal when the then-18-year-old drummer put down his drum, grabbed a rifle and fought Confederates during the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863. Only some 1,200 of the medals were given during the war.
McCue said Hilliker was shot through the head during the conflict, but recovered and later married and raised a family in Los Angeles. Some medals awarded during the war were rescinded in 1897 when it was felt they had been awarded without merit, others were being presented and Hilliker received his.
Hilliker's descendants, the family of the late William Cornitius of Roseville, great-great-grandson of Hilliker, donated his medal and his decorated drum along with a picture of the soldier and information on his experiences while a member of the Union's 8th Wisconsin Infantry. All are in a display case in the museum.
The Cornitius family found the Lincoln Shrine in Redlands while searching online and felt it would be the place for the memorabilia, McCue said. The family had been concerned over who would preserve the medals and drum after William's wife, Dorothy Cornitius, no longer was able to. The shrine is the only museum in the Western United States dedicated to Lincoln and his legacy.
On hand for the afternoon's recognition was another Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Millett of Idyllwild. He was one of the few to receive a Medal of Honor during the Korean War. He had led what turned out to be the last successful bayonet charge by the military. Learning of the open house, Millett decided he wanted to be on hand Sunday.
Only some 3,493 men and one woman have been recognized by receiving the Medal of Honor since the Civil War.
Men and women dressed as Civil War combatants, medical personnel and civilians mingled with guests, listened to Bill Bell and Co. play Civil War music and talked with William Truman Peck, 75, who dressed as Abraham Lincoln for the day.
Marlene Parmenter of Fullerton and Larry Duncan of Redlands stood behind a table filled with medical instruments from the Civil War era that would have been used in a field hospital. Duncan, costumed as a doctor, wore a seemingly bloody apron and waved a pseudo-dismembered leg as he explained medical procedures of the time.
Parmenter said she was portraying the doctor's wife and assistant, who accompanied him to the war area. She said there were no nurses at the time, so doctors took assistants with them who frequently were their own wives.
Parmenter noted that during the war farmers' wagons were frequently used to transport wounded soldiers, but they were not reliable and so the military's "ambulance" corps came into being. She said the making of prostheses for the many who lost arms and legs also burgeoned then.
Michael Green of Rialto, who like Parmenter and Duncan is a member of the American Civil War Society, was portraying Joshua L. Chamberlain who had helped to receive the surrender of the Confederate Army and later went on to be a four-term governor of Maine. Chamberlain had received a Medal of Honor for his wounds at Gettysburg and Little Round Top, Green said.
On Tuesday, McCue said he had been pleased with the turnout, even though the inclement weather, and the fact the open house was on Super Bowl Sunday, may have deterred a few.
"Personally, it was very rewarding," McCue said. He wanted the Cornitius family to be happy with their choice of the shrine as the resting place for their family's memorabilia. A note he received after the event indicated they were, he said.
The open house is one of three events held in Redlands at the time of Lincoln's birthday each year. The Lincoln Pilgrimage, a march through Redlands followed by a program at the Redlands Bowl for Boy Scouts and other youth groups, was held Saturday, Feb. 5. A third event, the 73rd annual Watchorn Lincoln Dinner, will be Saturday, Feb. 12, at the University of Redlands Orton Center, with William C. Davis as the guest speaker.
Davis is a former editor of the Civil War Time Illustrated magazine. He has also made appearances on the History Channel program including the "Civil War Journal," is the author of more than 40 books on the Civil War and is a past nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in history. He is a professor of history at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. He has a doctorate from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn.
Davis is expected to talk about how Lincoln was able to sustain a sense of nationhood and unity during the war.
Reservations for the dinner are $27 per person and may be made by calling the Heritage Room at the A.K. Smiley Public Library. Reservations are due by Thursday, Feb. 10.
Information: 798-7632, or www.lincolnshrine.org
CITATION:
Rank and organization: Musician, Company A, 8th Wisconsin Infantry. Place and date: At Mechanicsburg, Miss., 4 June 1863. Entered service at. Waupaca Township, Wis. Born: 23 May 1843, Golden, Erie County, N.Y. Date of issue: 17 December 1897. Citation: When men were needed to oppose a superior Confederate force he laid down his drum for a rifle and proceeded to the front of the skirmish line which was about 120 feet from the enemy. While on this volunteer mission and firing at the enemy he was hit in the head with a minie ball which passed through him. An order was given to "lay him in the shade; he won't last long." He recovered from this wound being left with an ugly scar.
Courtesy of Find A Grave
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