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The Civil War Civil War Recipients of The Congressional Medal of Honor
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Early in the Civil War, a medal for individual valor was proposed to General-in-Chief of the Army Winfield Scott. But Scott felt medals smacked of European affectation and killed the idea.
The medal found support in the Navy, however, where it was felt recognition of courage in strife was needed. Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy medal of valor, was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on December 21, 1861. The medal was "to be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen, and Marines as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry and other seamanlike qualities during the present war."
Shortly after this, a resolution similar in wording was introduced on behalf of the Army. Signed into law July 12, 1862, the measure provided for awarding a medal of honor "to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldierlike qualities, during the present insurrection."
Although it was created for the Civil War, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration in 1863. 1,520 Medals were awarded during the Civil War, 1,195 to the Army, 308 to the Navy, 17 to the Marines and 4 to civilians. 25 Medals were awarded posthumously.
THE ORIGINAL MEDAL OF HONOR
The Navy's Medal of Honor was the first approved and the first designed. The initial work was done by the Philadelphia Mint at the request of Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. The Mint submitted several designs for consideration, and the one prepared by the Philadelphia firm of William Wilson & Sons was the design selected.
The selected Medal of Honor design consisted of an INVERTED, 5-pointed STAR. On each of the five points was a cluster of LAUREL leaves to represent victory, mixed with a cluster of OAK to represent strength. Surrounding the encircled insignia were 34 stars, equal to the number of stars in the U.S. Flag at the time....one star for each state of the Union including the 11 Confederate states.
Inside the circle of 34 stars were engraved two images. To the right is the image of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and war. On her helmet is perched an owl, representing WISDOM. In keeping with the Roman tradition, her left hand holds a bundle of rods and an ax blade, symbolic of authority. The shield in her right hand is the shield of the Union of our states (similar to the shield on our seal and other important emblems.)
Recoiling from Minerva is a man clutching snakes in his hands. He represented DISCORD and the insignia came to be known as "Minerva Repulsing Discord". Taken in the context of the Civil War soldiers and sailors struggling to overcome the discord of the states and preserve the Union, the design was as fitting as it was symbolic.
NAVY MEDAL OF HONOR (1862)
For all practical intents and purposes, the Navy Medal of Honor remains the same today as it did when it was born. The only change has been in the attachment that connects it to the ribbon, and the ribbon itself. Originally the Navy Medal of Honor was suspended from its red, white and blue ribbon by an anchor wrapped with a length of rope. The reverse side of the Medal was inscribed with the words "Personal Valor" above an open area in which the recipient's name could be engraved.
ARMY MEDAL OF HONOR (1862)
Struck from the same die as the Navy Medal of Honor, the original Army Medal differed only in the emblem that attached it to the same red, white and blue ribbon as the Navy. Replacing the anchor was an eagle perched on crossed cannon and clutching a saber in its talons. Replacing the words "Personal Valor" on the back of the Medal were the words "The Congress To" with an area to engrave the recipient's name.
Bernard J. D. Irwin
(1830-1917)
The first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor,
for whom the New Hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas has been named.
The First Medal of Honor Action Bernard J.D. Irwin on February 13-14, 1861
Bernard J.D. Irwin wasn't thinking about medals that February morning in 1861...indeed there was no such thing for American soldiers. Instead the Army Surgeon's mind was occupied with concerns for a young Arizona Territory boy and a group of fellow soldiers. Days earlier Cochise and a band of Apache warriors had captured the boy. The 7th Infantry's 2d Lt. George Bascom had immediately pursued with 60 men on a desperate rescue mission. Now word had reached Fort Breckenridge that the greatly superior Apache force had surrounded Bascom and his men and imperiled their own survival.
Accustomed to using his medical skills to save lives, Irwin was determined to now use his military skills to save his comrades. Unfortunately only 14 men could be spared from the garrison, these to be Irwin's rescue party. No horses could be spared for the mission, so Irwin and his 14 soldiers departed Fort Breckinridge on mules. Faced with a trek of 100 miles in the midst of a winter blizzard, the logistics of the mission were as improbable as the possibility of encountering the much larger enemy force, defeating them, and rescuing the captives. None-the-less the Irish-born surgeon was determined to try.
"D-Day" came on February 13, 1861 when Irwin's small rescue party encountered Cochise and his warriors at Apache Pass, Arizona. But it wasn't a battle so much as it was a TACTICAL engagement. With a carefully laid out plan and maximum placement of his 14 men, Irwin succeeded in convincing the Indian warriors that he had arrived with a much larger force, causing them to withdraw. Bascom's 60 men were liberated and joined Irwin and his 14 soldiers. The unified force then pursued Cochise into the mountains where they were able to engage him and rescue the captive boy.
Irwin's heroic rescue occurred almost a year before the Medal of Honor was introduced to the US Congress. Indeed, Irwin himself did not receive the Medal of Honor until January 24, 1894.... more than 50 years later. But his actions the cold mornings of February 13-14, 1861 are recorded in history as theFIRST MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION . Additional Information can be obtained from: An Army Hospital: From Dragoons to Rough Riders -- Fort Riley, 1853-1903
Fort Sumter was built on a man made island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. It was designed to compliment Fort Moultrie, which lay across the shipping channel on Sullivan's Island.
The fort was not quite completed at the start of the war. As war clouds gathered, Major Robert Anderson secretly moved the Federal garrison of Fort Moultrie out to Sumter. He considered Moultrie indefensible from the landward side. The move caused an outcry in Charleston, and South Carolina militia units immediately began emplacing artillery to contest the Federal occupancy on the fort. Firing commenced on April 12, 1861. The Civil War was on.
Civil War Timeline
1st Civil War Casualty - Col. Elmer Ellsworth
Andrews Raid
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Gettysburg Address
Colored Troops in the Civil War
Infamous 54th Infantry Regiment
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
Medal of Honor Recipients
Antietam Recipients
Battle of Fredericksburg
Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Vicksburg
Battle for Fort Wagner
Confederate Soldier's Honor Roll
Civil War Battles
Irish Born Recipients
Indiana Civil War Recipients
Illinois Civil War Recipients
Civil War Generals
Civil War Soldiers
Civil War Medicine
Civil War Links
Civil War Locales
The Crittenden Compromise
Journals of the Confederate Congress
A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF THE CIVIL WAR Before The War Begins
October 16, 1859 - John Brown attacks the US Arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
November 6, 1860 - Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States.
December 20, 1860 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union. 1861
January10-February 1 - Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas secede.
February 8 - The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
February 9 - Jefferson Davis is named President of the Confederacy.
March 4 - Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States.
April 12 - Fort Sumter fired upon.
April 14 - Fort Sumter surrenders.
April 15 - President Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers.
April 17- June 8 - Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee secede.
July 21 - Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) in Virginia.
August 10 - Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri.
November 1 - General George McClellan assumes command of Union forces in the East. 1862
February - General Ulysses S. Grant captures Forts Donnelson and Henry in Tennessee.
March-June - "Stonewall" Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign.
March 7-8 - Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), Arkansas.
March 9 - The Monitor and the Merrimac (Virginia) engage in the battle of the ironclads off Norfolk, Virginia.
March 17 - General George McClellan begins his Peninsular Campaign in Virginia.
April 6-7 - Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee.
May 25 - First Battle of Winchester, Virginia.
May 31 - Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia.
June 1 - General Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
June 25-July 1 - Seven Days Battle, Virginia (Oak Grove, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Savage's Station, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill).
July - George McClellan is relieved of duty. General John Pope given command of the Union armies in the East.
August 9 - Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia.
August 28 - Battle of Groveton, Virginia.
August 29-30 - Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), Virginia.
September 1 - Battle of Chantilly, Virginia.
September 2 - McClellan is restored to command.
September 14 - Battle of South Mountain, Maryland.
September 15 - Harper's Ferry captured by Stonewall Jackson.
September 17-18 - Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) in Maryland.
September 22 - President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation.
October 3-4 - Battle of Corinth Mississippi.
October 8 - Battle of Perryville, Kentucky.
November 5 - McClellan relieved of command again. General Ambrose Burnside named commander of the Army of the Potomac.
November 24 - Joseph E. Johnston appointed commander of Confederate forces west of the Alleghenies.
December - Grant launches unsuccessful campaign against Vicksburg in Virginia.
December 13 - Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
December 31-January 2 - Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro) Tennessee. 1863
January 26 - General Joseph Hooker given command of the Union forces in the East.
March 31 - General U.S. Grant begins a new campaign against Vicksburg.
May 1-4 - Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia.
May 2 - Stonewall Jackson shot by his own men at Chancellorsville and dies on May 10, 1863.
May 18 - Union siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi begins.
June 9 - Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia.
June 13-15 - Second Battle of Winchester, Virginia.
June 28 - George Meade is the new commander of the Army of the Potomac.
June - Lee invades Maryland and Pennsylvania.
July 1-3 - Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
July 4 - Vicksburg surrenders to General Grant.
September 9 - Chattanooga captured by Union forces.
September 19-20 - Battle of Chickamauga , Georgia.
November 19 - President Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery.
November 24-25 - Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1864
March 9 - U.S. Grant appointed Lt. General and given command of all Union forces.
May 5-6 - Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia.
May 8-19 - Battle of Spotsylvania, Virginia.
May 11 - Confederate General J.E.B Stuart killed at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
May - General William T. Sherman begins his campaign around Atlanta against Confederate General Joe Johnston.
May 13-15 - Battle of Resaca, Georgia.
June 1-3 - Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia.
June 18 - Union siege of Petersburg, Virginia begins.
June 27 - Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.
July 9 - Battle of Monocacy, Maryland.
July 17 - Confederate General Joe Johnston relieved of command. General John B. Hood given command of the defense of Atlanta, Georgia.
July 20-22 - Battle of Atlanta, Georgia.
July 30 - "Battle of the Crater" at Petersburg, Virginia.
August 29 - George McClellan nominated by the Democratic party to run against President Lincoln.
September 2 - General Sherman occupies Atlanta.
September 19 - Third Battle of Winchester, Virginia.
October 19 - Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia.
November 8 - Abraham Lincoln re- elected to a second term.
November 16 - Sherman begins his "march to the sea".
November 30 - Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
December 15-16 - Battle of Nashville, Tennessee.
December 21 - Confederate army abandons Savannah, Georgia to General Sherman. 1865
January 31 - Robert E. Lee appointed general-in-chief of the Confederate Armies.
March 4 - Abraham Lincoln inaugurated for second term.
April 1 - Battle of Five Forks, Virginia.
April 2 - Robert E. Lee withdraws his Army of Northern Virginia from Richmond and Petersburg.
April 3 - General Grant occupies Richmond, Virginia, capital of the Confederacy. The Confederate government flees.
April 6 - Battle of Saylor's Creek, Virginia.
April 9 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General U. S Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
April 13 - General Sherman captures Raleigh, North Carolina.
April 14 - President Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth and dies the following day.
April 26 - General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders. John Wilkes Booth is killed.
May 10 - Jefferson Davis is captured at Irwinville, Georgia.
May 26 - Confederate forces west of the Mississippi surrender. The war is ended!!!!
CIVIL WAR SITES
Union Army Regimental History I ndex
Library of Congress Selected Photographs
ehistory.com
Camp Chase Gazette
The Civil War Home Page
U.S. Army Civil War College
American Civil War
Northwest Civil War Council
The Civil War Reenactors
Civil War Photography
CivilWar.com
Northwest Artillery Club
United States Civil War
Women And The American Civil War
American Civil War Photographs
Images Of The Civil War
Civil War Recipients of The Congressional Medal of Honor
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
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