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Navy awards over 40 Medals of Honor but forgets to tell the heroes, or the world. In some cases, it took 7 years!

1/31/2016

No doubt it was a rather embarrassing General Order to issue, but the Assistant Secretary of the Navy did it anyway back in October of 1884.

The first three awards in the GO went to sailors rescuing mates who had fallen overboard about three months earlier.

But then the announcement went on to list over 40 heroes who had been awarded the nations highest of bravery awards, but as noted, the department never issued a General Order to tell the sailor and the world of his deed and the President's directive to present the sailor with the Medal of Honor.

Over the history of the medal well over 130 have been awarded in the saving... or attempting to save mates who had fallen overboard, be they at dockside or at high seas.

Some of the medals in the above order went for the saving of civilian labourers on-board vessels doing repairs and had lost their footing and gone over. One went to a sailor who was under guard, and jumped ship before realizing perhaps that he could not swim. Another went for saving a sailor who was actually trying to commit suicide. Several went for saving the lives of youngsters, under-aged and called... boys... who were serving in some minor capacity on-board the warships.

Several of the medals came to Canadians. Some to others with connections to Canada.

A few of the names will be familiar to those who regularly visit this site. Using the search engine herein will provide a review for most welcome newcomers.

History has yet to reveal just where in Canada that Henry Williams came from. But it does evidence his service on board one of America's most famous war ships, the 1797 built USS Constitution. It apparently took 60 acres of trees to build and the copper nails holding her together were forged by a fellow who's name you might recall... Paul Revere. (Search site for his Halifax connections)

The ship was sent off carrying exhibits for the Paris Exposition of 1878. On its return it got caught up in a deadly Gale and had major rudder damage that required repair at sea. This was very dangerous because of the wave action against the rudder whilst repairs were going on. As you can see from the above entry, Williams was one of the three awarded the Medal of honor for risking their lives to repair the damage.

It is possible, but yet to be confirmed, that the sailor rescued in the above notice... John W Powers... may well be the same Powers who was serving on the USS Plymouth whilst at Halifax harbour in 1876. If so, he became the rescuer in Nova Scotia when he and another sailor rescued a civilian who was drowning.

The above MOH and one other medal are the only medals in the entire history of the Medal of Honor to have the name Halifax on them and as such, are very rare indeed. The story is oft mentioned at this site.

George Low from Port Hope Ontario is often referred to as George Evatt on web sites. His names given at birth were George Low Evatt.

Robert Sweeney was a coloured man and thought to be from Montreal for decades, but has since been shown to actually have been born on the Caribean Island of Montserrat. He was one of the 21 Medal of Honor men who actually was awarded with two medals. Most sites incorrectly claim that there were only 19 doubles. This has been oft mentioned in this space.

Most websites tell that Phillip Moore was born in Newfoundland, but don't say where. I have just uncovered 180 pages of his history and therein his birthplace is well documented as being at St John's in that province.

I plan on bringing you his story next Sunday.

Researchers interested in any of these names probably consulted the papers of the day in the hopes of getting some details, but now you can see, part of the frustration in this work, is the inconsistency in government documentation, and same in a timely fashion.

Switching now to another topic, I did not see any news items in the press yet about the fact that on Jan 29th, it was the 160th anniversary of the creation of the Victoria Cross, pictured above. To its right is the new Canadian version, unveiled for the first time to the public on 16 may 2008. None have yet to be awarded.

The first ever presentation of the VC took place at London in 1857. Blogs here have brought you that story and noted that within the first two dozen ever to be presented with the VC was Toronto's Alexander Dunn. HRH Queen Victoria made the presentations personally.

More than 100 have come home to Canadians and those with connections to our country.

On the 100th anniversary over 300 VC recipients gathered at London's Hyde Park. This picture is rare and a keepsake for all Canada as it shows 25 of out brave men. Not often did that many of our VC men gather shoulder to shoulder for such a photo op.

And on a final note, A few months back I received this cute story. Not sure it is genuine, but it will make for great story telling anyway... enjoy.

It was supposed to take place in Saskatchewan, and at a school with plenty of disruptive children. The teacher was a battle scarred soldier who stood for no nonsence, and...

Back on Sunday...
Bart

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Sailor turned embalmer, then soldier and Medal of Honor man with probably a 30 year plus career.

1/24/2016

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He'd march the streets of Quebec with his navy ship's company, upwards of 2 dozen of them also wearing Medals of Honor, and they'd be cheered on by thousands of dignitaries and citizens along the route. Probably the largest gathering of MOH men ever in Canada. For another 25 years and more he would wear his navy Medal of Honor with pride... ON AN ARMY UNIFORM!

Not many did that I bet.

It all started back in 1878 in either Quebec City, Rimouski or elsewhere in the province yet to be verified. That's where Henry was born to French Canadian parents. Formal documents would later show that at age 2 he had emigrated to New York.

History has yet to reveal what sort of youth this fellow had but it is known that with only 3 years of formal schooling he ended up becoming a recruit in the US Navy. He'd become the more formal... Henry P. Russell, Landsman, and assigned to the USS Marblehead, shown here stripped down and ready to do battle in the Spanish American War.

It was 11 December 1896, and Henry was 18 1/2 years old. The ship was in New York briefly, had just returned from duties in Europe and no doubt taking on new recruits at the time. About 16 months into its next tour, it was in Florida when the Spanish American War broke out. It was immediately sent south to Cuba for supportive and blockade duties.

Nineteen days later, on May 11 1898 Henry and about 50 other sailors became heroes in the famous cable cutting incident, mentioned many times in this space. There is a lot of detail of the actually cutting and dangers involved in my blog at... http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/sunday-evenings-blogs/pei-man-proves-heroism-earns-medal-of-honor-in-cuba

Two large war ships..the Marblehead and the Nashville were assigned with the task of breaking off the connections between Spain and Cuba by cutting some cables. To do this each ship sent out 2 small launches. One from each would do the locating, raising and cutting, while the 2nd from both would carry navy and marine sharpshooters who would provide protection for the cutters.

Most references claim this is the USS Nashville, but I think it may be the Marblehead. Regardless, the ship is cleaned up after the battle, and from the looks of activity of the deck, seems to be in celebration with the women being aboard. The launch at the front contains some of the crew that would have been in either it or the 4 actually used. Obviously the pictured is posed after the fact. If you compare the size of it with the picture at top you can readily see it being dwarfed in size. Look closely near the bow to the right.

There were about 110 Medals of Honor awarded for bravery during the war. Forty five % went to non-American born recipients. About half went to the cable cutting crews. The wording for the 7 July 1898 citation for the cable cutters is brief, as you can see from above. It is difficult to get specific info on many of these heroes and I have yet to even see any listing of who was on which of the 4 work boats.

Other than the above citation little is known about many of these sailors and marines, other than on Wednesday at noon they went out and earned a medal. (it actually was a Wednesday) I checked... hehe.

But with the help recently from the Connecticut Historical Society, The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, The Medal of Honor Historical Society of the US, Arlington National Cemetery, and a few others, some pieces are starting to fall into place about Henry P Russell.

From the above internment document there are several pieces to the puzzle provided. At the bottom left I see the first time Henry's SpanAmWar service dates from 11 December 1896 to 10 December 1899.

From the 22 October 1900 issue of the Hartford Courant I see that Henry P Russell has decided to take out US Citizenship, and on
the 20th he appeared in the US Circuit Court at Hartford Ct to so indicate his wishes to become a citizen at a later date.

But curiously, only 2 years after the fact, the paper got the ship wrong when claiming he was serving on the USS New York.

Between 1900 and 1905 Henry was living in the Hartford area. A 1905 Register of Enlistments in the US Army shows that Henry enlisted in the services again, but this time in the army. He joined the 18th Infantry from Hartford and served till released at Angel Island California in 1908. His entry documents list his previous job being that of an Embalmer.

That same year he signed up again, but this time with the 14th US Cavalry. Two years later the US Census had him still with the unit and stationed at Fort Stotsenburg, Luzon, Philippines. By 1911 he is still serving with the Cavalry, but by then stationed at Fort McKinley.

In 1919 Henry gets married and he and wife are living in Cumberland Maine, but by 1923 both are back at Hartford Ct. He was by then serving with the Hq Company of the 62nd US Artillery, and with rank of a First Sergeant.

The above Arlington Document shows a 1930 retirement with the rank of a Master Sergeant and also a note that he held the rank of Captain, and with the National Guard of New Hampshire.

The 1930 federal census shows him then working as a clerk for the New Hampshire Adjutant General.

The 1940 census has him back in Portland Maine, and a bio appearing in 1956 had him passing away on 1 December of that year whilst staying at the US Veterans Hospital at Togus Maine.

In mid August 1898, the recipients of the MOH from the USS Nashville were presented their medals on-board the vessel whist in the Boston harbour. A similar presentation may have also happened on the Marblehead, but details have so far eluded me. Above is an actual medal from the Marblehead, awarded to Herbert Foss. Henry Russell's medal should be the same.

In the upper right there is an actual piece of the cable cut out from Cuba. Several sailors got a piece as a keep-sake.

Robert Blue served as a Seaman on the USS Nashville and this is his actual medal. Use the search engine on this site to learn a little of how this medal was actually here in Victoria many years ago, was later sold in an FBI sting and resulted in the law-breaker going to jail.

I suspect that one of the proudest moments of Canadian born Henry Peter Russell was the Marblehead's sailing to Canada... and to possibly his very city of birth at Quebec in the fall of 1889.

On September 21st the massive memorial to Champlain was unveiled and at the request of the Canadian government, the US government sent this ship as a representative of the American people to participate.

The ship's company marched the streets on the day of unveiling and were provided front row seating for the event and received many a cheer form the dignitaries and audiences for the recent victories in Cuba. And in that ship's company about 2 dozen medals were awarded for the Cable Cutting incident, and probably wore the medals that day.

Henry Peter Russell being one of these.

Doubtfully, there was another time in the entire history of the Medal of Honor that so many recipients had gathered on Canadian soil at the same time.

Sure wish it could happen again,

till next week,

Bart

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It was a journey of some 20,000 kms. At the last km a Victoria Cross awaited this hero. But the poor hero never lived to see it!

1/17/2016

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The story started with a 1892 Christmas present to the world when William was born on 21 December 1892 at Cambusnethan, Wishaw, south east of Glasgow, Scotland. I've little to report on his youth other than a public school education and probably a little more before adventuring off, without his parents on a long journey to Canada in 1910.

He would find his way to Saskatchewan, lived and worked a farm about 50 kms from Moose Jaw. That farm was then... and to this day still called the Kirkland Farm, and his employer's descendants were still running it a few years back and perhaps still.

Willie worked the farm through the first year of the Great War but a few months before his 24th birthday he decided he would sign up with the army and get his whopping dollar a day for doing his duty.

He walked to the armoury in Moose Jaw in one day. It was a 50 km hike. (Not included in above figures.) It was just over 100 years ago, on 11 September 1915, that Willie became Private William Johnstone Milne, Serial # 427586, with the 46th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (South Saskatchewan Regiment)

Pte Milne would be with his regiment at Halifax six weeks later and boarding the White Star's monstrous SS Lapland on 21 October 1915 for the Atlantic crossing. They arrived at Devonport England on the 30th, or possible 2 November. Willie is shown above, possibly wearing the standard CEF collar dogs and cap badge, but would probably switch to the 46th cap badge (above) in England.

At its hay-day the Lapland could carry 450 Ist class, 400 2nd and 1,500 3rd class passengers per sailing. A year prior to William's sailing the carrier took part on the massive convoy of October 1914 that brought the first Canadian troops across the ocean for battle in Europe in the Great War. Shown above, the vessel also brought over 150 of the Titanic's rescued crew to England once released after the court enquirer in the US over the Titanic's sinking in April of 1912.

While serving with the 46th in England, William, like thousands of others got caught with his pants down, pardon the pun. His military file shows a loss about 17 days for 2 periods of treatment for Gonnorhoea. (The US would lose over 7 million lost days due to the disease in the war. The Brits between 1914 and 1918 would have over 400,000 cases, 66% being for STD's.)

He would lose another 22 days later in 1916 due to Influenza. But by then he had transferred over to the 16th Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Canadian Scottish Regiment. They formed part of the 3rd Brigade of Canada's First Division.

Pictured here are the Canadian Scottish's cap badge and a shoulder dog.

By the end of June the Regiment had sailed for Europe. William would fight along side his regiment through the skirmishes and battles the grime and mud and noise, the blood and destruction that led through all the towns and villages and the no man's land. Not knowing if he would live another day...till all of a sudden he and his mates ended up at one of the most horrific battles of the war.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge!

Along the Allies Western Front of WW1, the April 1917 Battle of Arras would become known as a momentous milestone in the History of Canada. It was here that, for the first time in the war, 4 Canadian Divisions came together to fight for the first time. They were joined by one British Division, and were tasked with dislodging the heavily fortified peak of a ridge near Vimy, aptly called the Vimy Ridge. It was about 200 feet high in some places, several kms long and well protected by some 30 to 40,000 Germans who had in the past repulsed attacks by both the French and British. It was now up to about 100,000 Canadian troops and of tens of thousands of Brits as well.

Since there is excellent information of the Battle of Vimy Ridge on the net, I will not retell the story here. But in brief, the position of the Canadian 4 divisions are running from top to bottom and along the left side of this map, and numbered by division. Arrow # 3 shows these. Arrow #4 points out the location of the first division, and within this were the Canadian Scottish and our hero William Milne. The troops battled eastward, to the right on the map and heading for... and over the ridge shown by the red line, arrow #2. The town of Vimy is show with arrow # 1

The Canadians and British not only took the ridge and drove the Germans back on the first of the 4 day battle but also took the town of Theus, arrow #6, the following day.

This painting shows the shelling of the ridge before the troops tackled it. You can see the ridge off in the distance. One in ten Canadians became a casualty over the four day battle, and over 3,600 would die from battle wounds.

Shown here area few of over 4,000 Germany soldiers captured. Above that are a few of the machine guns the Canadians also captured. Perhaps among these are the two that Saskatchewan's William Milne captured.

Milne's unit was given the task to advance towards the ridge and take out any obstacles in the way. William would actually crawl out under incredibly heavy fire and kill the crew of a machine gun nest, capture the gun and return to his lines. He would later in the day on that first day of battle, actually repeat the process and capture a 2nd gun, but his luck had run out and he was killed in the process.

Troops in the rear would move forth to gather the dead for transport to various grave yards, but some... like William and 43 others were buried in make shift graves in craters and just buried over with temporary markings. His crowded grave was marked with the number CA 40 and though required for later recovery and proper burial, this somehow did not happen. Now, almost a hundred years later, those 44 are still lying in an unmarked grave.

One of Canada's national treasures of course is the Vimy Monument in France. Almost 12,000 names of soldiers lost in France and with no known grave are inscribed here for all to see. Among them is William Milne's, and from the above you can see that for his heroism on 9 April 1917, he was awarded the Commonwealth's highest medal for bravery... the Victoria Cross. Sadly it had to be a posthumous award.

While researching William's story I came across this image of him on the net. It is most curious!

Clearly his VC was awarded posthumously, but someone decided it best to alter his picture to show him wearing the VC.

Look closely at the left of his left shirt pocket and there it is.

The enlarged photo on left show the medal a little clearer.

Here's what the London Gazette has to say about the man from Scotland.

Four Victoria Crosses were awarded for Canadian heroism at Vimy Ridge. Milne's VC is on display at the wonderful National War Museum in Ottawa as are many VC medal groupings.

Back in Scotland 14 VC recipients came from the County of Lanarkshire Lake, and in the county town center of Hamilton there are marble blocks with info on each... including William Milne.

A flag pole in his honor once was located at the Canadian Legion at Caron, Saskatchewan.

And back at the very farm where William worked and lived for several years before the war, stands this government plaque erected in his honor.

And this story is not yet over. An Ottawa historian has been working for sometime now trying to locate the actual grave of the 44 soldiers from the Canadian Scottish who were left in the mass grave. He feels it is located I believe somewhere around the point of arrow #5 above.

Keep an eye on this blog site, and the press to see how this story develops. Better yet google the fund raiser now ongoing to help finance the search to locate the 44 graves and donate a few bucks to help with this most worthwhile cause.

till next week,

Bart

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Got Medal of Honor for capturing 30 enemy, seizing some supplies and burning the ship!

1/10/2016

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True! But there is so much more to the story of Oliver Edward O'Brien than his bravery on a Monday night 151 years ago.

But up to a few weeks ago, that's about all I knew of this hero. Most say he was born in Boston. One reference says Nova Scotia. But from the last two blogs in this space you have learned that he was born in St. John's Newfoundland. Some say back in 1839. But you now know it was 1844.

History tells of his bravery and subsequent awarding of the Medal of Honor while serving on the USS John Adam. You now know it was the USS Canadaigua. Dedicated research has also shown his connection with USS Monitor and the CSS Merrimac, aka Merrimack/Virginia, probably one of the two most famous sea battles of the Civil War. (The other being the battle between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama, which also had Canadian connections noted in the past in this space.)

Further research also brought forth news of O'Brien's alleged desertion. Also his several attempts before having positive action taken by the US Congress to reverse the status and finally getting his actual medal.

And there is yet more! He played a role in the story of the first every sinking of a war ship by a submarine in US history.

Regular readers will know of Union Commanding General Scott's Civil War plan. It was designed to prevent the movement of all Confederate supplies out of the US, or even along the coastlines.

If the Union could repel, capture or destroy supplies attempting to come in for supporting the southern cause, the lack of food and fuel, weapons and ammunition and funds would soon see the Southern States collapse. Thus the end of the war would follow. The cartoon above illustrates the point of the anaconda snake that would slowly close and choke off any resistance from within.

The capture of the Beatrice, and the sinking of the Cumberland and other vessels during the sea Battle of Hampton Roads (Monitor and Merrimack) (about midway down the right side of the above map) all played their own part in this overall blockade scheme.

On the night of Deb. 17th 1864 the USS Housatonic (shown above) was on Blockade duty outside the Charleston harbour about 4 miles from Fort Sumpter. It was at about 9 at night when crew noticed what they thought was a plank of wood or a porpoise coming their way. And perhaps at first thought a plank of wood couldn't hurt a 228 foot long war ship weighing in at about 1240 tones.

That plank of wood turned out to be one of about 20 new submarines the South had developed in the 1864-5 era. And it had a deadly bite. So deadly that it was not recognized for what it was until about a minute later.

And within minutes the Housatonic lay dead at the bottom of the ocean floor. Five men died, but some of the 21 officers and 129 men got on a few life boats and the rest were saved by the crews of the USS Canandaigua just 15 minutes away when the ship was attacked. And we know that serving on the rescue ship's crew was none other than our man Oliver O'Brien.

This is a picture of the "plank of wood", also know as the submarine H. L. Hunley, so named after its designer... Horace Lanson Hunley. It was only 40 feet long, had a crew of only only eight and got it's propulsion from those tough sailors who operated a hand crank to turn the propeller.

It was indeed a deadly creation. It sank itself three times. Thirteen of her Confederate crew members died in it on its first two trial runs, with no harm to the Union vessels it was supposed to be targeting. Raised each time and put back into service, she was to have a run at the Housatonic a week earlier but again internal problems/weather conditions caused it to retreat.

But not so on Feb 17, 1864!

Like the Merrimac, the Hunley had a long spar (16 ft) attached to its front, below the water line. Fastened on its end was a torpedoe weighing about 135 pounds.

On approaching the enemy it poked a hole into the side and by backing out and pulling some sort of a triggering mechanism, fired the bomb which immediately took out a very large chunk of the starboard side of the Union vessel.

While the Hunley was never heard of again during the war, several theories floated about (pardon the pun) regarding its demise and taking the entire crew of 8 with it. Several years ago the Hunley was discovered, raised and worked on. Current believe is that it may have been too close to the explosion and not quick enough to escape and became a victim of its own success, if you will.

Regardless, the attack and sinking of the Union vessel was the fist case in US history of a war ship being destroyed by an enemy submarine.

Of particular interest to me, and hopefully you, is not just the O'Brien connection, but the fact that at least 4 of the 8 man Hunley crew were apparently non American born sailors.

Yet again an example of the role that non Americans played in so much of the Civil War history. A matter so often not getting significant mention by historians, politicians, the military and the media when discussing this horrible chapter of American... and indeed the world's history.

Back with you next week,

Bart

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It seems that every time I turn on my medal detector... I get more and more beeps. And this needs more and more time to sort out!

1/6/2016

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Probably the most important sea battle of the US Civil War was that of the USS Monitor and the CSS Merrimac back on March 9th, 1862. A handful of the Southern navy's vessels slaughter several of the Union's front line war ships within hours. News traveled the world very quickly and governments had to start changing the way they were building their navy vessels from then on.

It was mostly because of the lead vessel... the Confederate's CSS Merrimac. (Actually that vessel was a rebuilding of an early one called the Merrimack, and then given the name Virginia, but so early in the game when fame was theirs for the taking, the name Merrimac seemed to stick.)

While the battle only lasted about three hours on March 9th. and for which it gained fame, most of its destruction took place the day before. Regardless, those few hours have more than quadrupled in the time needed..and continues, in researching this topic. With this work, many fascinating tidbits have comes my way. And many of these also touch on Canadian involvement.

The ongoing story has appeared in this place many times.

Last week I reminded with you a little of the great work a fellow member of the Medal Of Honor Historical Society of the US had done in the updating of a grave marker for Master Sergeant Husking Jr. I also noted that because of this work Don Morfe played a role in identifying the remains of another Medal of Honor recipient. He was simply buried under a number for over 120 years. Morfe's efforts, shared with others, ensured a proper marker was put in place.

This 2nd fellow was instrumental in helping to save those escaping a watery grave. He served on another ship that was dispatched to the rescue. And the doomed vessel was none other than the USS Monitor, sinking in a terrible gale.

Serving on the Monitor at the time was a sailor by the name of Alex Scott, who was born in Quebec. Later in the war Scott would enlist with the army, and in July 1864 his bravery at the famed battle at Monocacy Md. resulted in being awarded with a Medal of Honor. His story has appeared here in the past.

Another story also appearing in this space previously told of the bravery of James McIntosh. His bravery as a sailor fighting at Mobile Bay less than a month after Scott's deed, also resulted in the awarding of the Medal of Honor. He was born in Montreal. And in the famous Monitor and Merrimac battle he was serving on the USS Cumberland that was slaughtered on the first day's few hour battle that ended with a 3 hour stand-off battle on the 9th. Serving with him was a fellow named O'Brien, to be introduced in a few minutes.

The famous 8 March 1862 battle began with these two vessels, the Merrimac on the left and the Cumberland on the right. While the 50 gun Sloop of War (sloops had all guns on one deck) was one of the top of the line powerful Union vessels..it was made of wood. But the Merrimac was the first of a new class of what were called ironclads, for obvious reasons. The Cumberland was no match and was destroyed within minutes taking 121 sailors of the 376 man crew to their graves on the ocean floor.

The Merrimac was so constructed that penetrating its iron above waterline surface was almost impossible, not only due to strength but also because of the angles. In most cases, shells just bounced off it. Nevertheless, the Cumberland did managed to take out two of the Southerners ship guns and caused internal damage. It also killed their ram. A 1500 pound long poll... or ram ...under the waterline that held a bomb at its end. It was rammed into the side of the Cumberland leaving a whole big enough to drive a horse and cart through.

While the Cumberland sank in minutes, it was later determined that its damage to the Merrimac was more sever than from any other damage caused to that vessel in battles both on the 8th and 9th. It in fact almost sunk the Merrimac when its ram got caught in the Cumberland's side but finally gave way and allowed the ironclad to back off. The Merrimac only lost two men in that first day's battle. The first being a lad from New Brunswick.

While the Merrimack was introduced to battle on the 8th, the Union was aware such a dangerous vessel was about to show its face. It was also in a rush to build a competitor... its own ironclad. That ship was the Monitor, shown at above left.

Over the years both sides of the famous sea battle would claim they won the day. Historians would later claim that both sides, for a variety of reasons, no doubt including frustration at not taking out their foe, simply backed away to await another duel later in the war.

About 9 months after the sinking the ship would be immortalized with the thanks of the poem... "The Cumberland" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Just a few days ago I discovered this document on the internet. It shows that the Southern States felt they had a complete victory. Victory gained for the most part, against unequal foes. Then when an equal came along, the battle obviously was a stalemate.

But let's get back to Oliver O'Brien.

I have known for some time that O'Brien was a Medal of Honor recipient for actions in 1864. At that time he was serving on the USS Canandaigua, shown at above right. But just recently I found that 2 years earlier he served on the USS Cumberland from October of 1860 till it was sunk by the Merrimac.

O'Brien then took his release from the US Navy in June 1862, but changed his mind and re-enlisted in August with the USS Canandaigua for a 3 year term. In his first and this 2nd enlistment the forms state that he was born, and enlisted at Boston. Later info shows this to be wrong.

The 18 gun Sloop of War Canandaigua was attached to the naval squadron in the South Atlantic tasked with the capture or destruction of Southern blockade runners trying to bring in supplies for the Confederacy. The ship had good success with the capture and destroying of several vessels in and around the Harbour waters of Charleston. It also fought with the Union fleet on several attacks on the harbour defenses.

In late November 1864 she played a role in the heated battle against the 500 tone Confederate runner Beatrice which was trying to land its cargo near Sullivans Island in the harbour. It was here that Fort Moultrie stood, and from where Major Anderson had to abandon for a better defensive position at Fort Sumter days before the battle said to have started Civil War in mid April 1861.

Fort Moultrie in 1864, was in Confederate hands and firing heavily on USS Canandaigua while it and several boarding craft tackled with the Confederate's Beatrice. The late November battle saw O'Brien leading one of the landing crews under very heavy fire. He and others captured some valuable supplies, set the enemy ship ablaze and came away with about 30 prisoners.

His ship's captain would later say that several... including O'Brien... "merit in my opinion, special notice for their prompt and energetic conduct."

Rear Admiral Dahlgren, the squadron commander wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, (one of the men responsible for the very creation of the navy MOH) supported the congrats to his men, and even added that the ENEMY also noted the bravery of his crew. The Admiral also wrote that the sailors involved are..."deserving all commendation for their conduct in this matter."

In early December of that year Oliver O'Brien was promoted by the Admiral to either Acting..or Full Master's Mate, (a snr Petty Officer position.) For his bravery O'Brien was also promised a $100 bonus. (Probably equivalent to about 5 months pay of the day)

On 31 December 1864 the 4th ever General Order listing those awarded a naval Medal of Honor was issued. It listed 146 medals covering a long stretch of time. It, like the first three listed Canadian recipients. In this one there were 10 so listed, though one was later shown, in this space, to actual not be a Canadian recipient.

This listing has O'Brien listed on the correct ship, though many references to this day say he was on a ship called the John Adam.

Most recently I located some information that added to the O'Brien story. It noted that in early April he was transferred to another vessel with the rank of a Master's Mate, and within days took sick and granted a 30 day furlow to return home at Boston and regain his health. Several weeks later he apparently was sent an order to return to his ship. But being delirious at the time it did not register. Within days he was then listed in the Naval Register as a deserter. By the time he regained his senses, he discovered his leave was up, but by then the war had ended. Not knowing where his ship or comrades where he simply went on with his life.

One most difficult so far to get more info on... till the 1890's.

By then he had tried to find out whatever happened to his Medal of Honor and the promised $100 bonus. He no doubt discovered his listing as a deserter and started to try and resolve the issue.

The US Congress tool up his cause as you can see below...

Congress recommended that the story be accepted and that the medal be provided, though no mention of the bonus. Below is a statement that O'Brien gave Congress regarding his service...

Congress must have listened favourably, as evidenced by this September 1894 newspaper article...

Less than a month later, Oliver Edward O'Brien passed away. His death record sets the record straight on numerous references saying he was born at Boston, or Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. Here is the evidence that he was born at St. John's Newfoundland....

I have also recently located further evidence of a Newfoundland birth. It is a Naturalization document dating back to 1868. It also gives an 1844 rather than 1839 date of birth noted on some resources.

The record for O'Brien is so similar to others where there is no shortage of misinformation. Facts countering facts that frustrate any attempts to sort out.

I hope I have helped to sort Oliver's out and not put you to sleep in the telling.

I'd best not say there is still more to come... but I will leave that till Sunday.

Bart

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blog delayed till Wednesday.

1/3/2016

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Some earlier website difficulties, and arrival of new info needing sorting out has caused an unexpected delay in finishing off today's blog, and now yet another follow up. This first will be posted for Wednesday and a follow-up on Sunday next.

Sorry for this unavoidable delay, but hoping you will agree the next two are worth the slight delay,

Bart

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Navy awards over 40 Medals of Honor but forgets to tell the heroes, or the world. In some cases, it took 7 years!

Sailor turned embalmer, then soldier and Medal of Honor man with probably a 30 year plus career.

It was a journey of some 20,000 kms. At the last km a Victoria Cross awaited this hero. But the poor hero never lived to see it!

Got Medal of Honor for capturing 30 enemy, seizing some supplies and burning the ship!

It seems that every time I turn on my medal detector... I get more and more beeps. And this needs more and more time to sort out!

blog delayed till Wednesday.

Author;
Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers

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Navy awards over 40 Medals of Honor but forgets to tell the heroes, or the world. In some cases, it took 7 years!

Sailor turned embalmer, then soldier and Medal of Honor man with probably a 30 year plus career.

It was a journey of some 20,000 kms. At the last km a Victoria Cross awaited this hero. But the poor hero never lived to see it!

Got Medal of Honor for capturing 30 enemy, seizing some supplies and burning the ship!

It seems that every time I turn on my medal detector... I get more and more beeps. And this needs more and more time to sort out!

blog delayed till Wednesday.

Author;Bart Armstrong, C.D., Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers

Archives

Categories

Author;
Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers