Daily Blog

Delay till Wed. or Sunday

5/29/2022

Am searching for an image I want to use but can't find it.

I think it got lost with about a thousand emails and images due to a recent complete failure of my back up hard-drive. Will go and get another image locally tomorrow and should be back on line by Wed or Sunday with a blog.

Sorry folks,
Bart

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More Medal of Honor News

5/22/2022

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When we talk about Medal of Honor news, be it current or historic and involving the United States, we should broaden our horizons.

We should realize that men (and one woman) being awarded these most precious tokens of American appreciation for their valour, where not limited to American born men and women alone. Of the 3500 plus medals awarded so far, well over 700 went to non Americans coming from at least 48 other countries. (In fact the very first award, by date of action, went to an Irishman... (with Canadian connections to boot.)

And so it is fair to say that MOH news is news that ought to be of interest to all 48 countries... if not more.

During Civil War days alone, one in four medals went to a non American. These numbers drop to one in five over all years from inception in 1862 until today.

Moving along, the longest war the Americans have been said to have fought was that against the American Natives. There are many stories about bravery and atrocities on both sides of a 30 year period beginning in the late 1860's.

I shall leave those discussions to those far more qualified than I to document these battles.

But I do want to offer brief comment on the battle some know as the Battle of Rocky Mesa, others call it the battle of Chiricahua Pass.

The natives had been attacking the white man in the area for some time and the US Cavalry were on the look out for such activity.

A mine President headed off his property with several others en-route to do other business, decided to take rest at an abandoned stagecoach stop. But natives were in hiding and attacked and killed all but one man who escaped to near-by Fort Bowie and troops soon were en-route to capture the natives.

A five hour battle broke out before the natives escaped, leaving their carnage behind. Five months later the government awarded 33 Medals of Honor, apparently the most in the medal's entire history, for a one day or shorter battle.

Several Canadians in that unit had, or would later earn Medals of Honor but in this battle a Canadian risked his life in a hail of gunfire to crawl out and rescue one of the troopers. He would be one of those later getting the MOH. His name was Mosher Harding and he was from Ontario.

Mosher would live another 60 or more years and finally passed away and was laid to rest in 1931. His original marker contained no information regarding his Medal Of Honor Status and years later another marker was laid at his final resting place. Both are shown below at a Dennison Iowa cemetery.

Unfortunately the image is of very poor quality but it does show Mosher wearing a later version of the Medal of Honor. His original would have been slightly different. Its has been reported that in this frame we see not a picture...but his actual Medal of Honor.

Moving on, just days ago I learned of a major event in the Medal of Honor world. And as noted above, this event, being digital can be shared by folks in all the countries around the world, even those who did not bring home an actual Medal of Honor.

On March 25th past, Medal of Honor Day in the US, it was apparently announced that a fabulous source of research and learning had been developed for free use. A tool for all to enjoy and learn all about the medal and the men and one lady who had been recipients in the past.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society and the American Battlefield Trust and others have joined forces to bring us this fabulous and most attractive resource to pursue our MOH interests. And it is fun and most attractive to digest. Here is my favorite part, but much more time is needed for me to better look at all it has to offer.

The buttons on the right control the screen image you see. Each gives direct details depending on what you are looking for.

Its great fun..and useful too. And here's my favorite so far...

Alexander Scott was born in Montreal and fought at Monocacy Md. during the US Civil War and was awarded the medal for his bravery. He is among at least 2 dozen Canadians buried at Arlington.

I almost missed bringing you the following plaque possibly erected in 2021 and dedicated this year regarding Mosher Harding and the other MOH recipients. It was erected by the Cochise County Arizona Historical Society. Note in the left column, Mosher Harding's name being the 6th from the top.

More next Sunday,
Bart

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More Tidbits for Your Canadian Medal of Honor Files

5/15/2022

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In this space over the past 12 years, I have brought you news about the Canadian part of the US Medal of Honor story. With almost 600 blogs, that's an average of at least one blog, every week for those past years. It is true that I have taken a few sabbaticals for a few months a few times. But the average numbers still show at last one blog per week since December of 2012.

I have visited several dozen locations, both in the US and Canada. Getting to graves or research materials and visiting descendants has taken me on numerous automotive trips, travel by air, by ferry, train, subway, taxi and even at one stop by a golf cart to get to a burial site.

Costs to bring this material to you have included many thousands of dollars for hotel and parking, taxi, meals, and very high number of long distance telephone costs covering the above dozen and another 8 years previous to the start of these blogs.

A bucket list of other costs would include going through three computers and printers, office supplies, monthly subscription fees for the URL, this site, membership in numerous organizations, purchase of numerous books and videos on subject, making several actual donations to like minded entities, and much more.

All of this and so much more has been absorbed by me without any financial help over the 2 decades other than I believe one night in California hotel and 2 in a bed and breakfast establishment in Ontario. Small stipends for talks on two occasions also helped out.

The gist of this work has been to uncover forgotten heroes from Canada, and helping to document or correct so much in the existing files. This and of course, bringing these results to the decedents and you, my faithful readers.

With start numbers at 54 Canadian Medal of Honor recipients, and mine now hovering close to 120, the site has done its job! But so much more remains to be done. And with the help of so many from all walks of life that have lent me a hand in this journey, I pray they will stay with me for another dozen.

Did I just hear you scream!

Today I have a few updates and then some new materials, so strap in.

Past blogs have brought you the story of Lindsay Ontario born Medal of Honor recipient Dennis Buckley, who gave his life trying to save the Union during the US Civil War. His story has oft appeared in the space in the past. For the new reader, the search engine at upper right will get you to stories about Dennis.

As a youth he was the sole bread winner for ailing parents and younger siblings. He literally brought home the clothes on their backs and the food for the kitchen table.

At one point, while working for a local farmer, it was a bad month and there were no funds to pay Dennis for his labor. Instead he was given a cow. He took it home for the family to slaughter.

Not long after, he got influenced by a US agent to go to the US and sign up for Civil War service. He did so and soon found himself in the Battle at Peach Tree Creek near Marietta Georgia.

It was not his first battle, but it was his last!

On advancing to the enemy lines Dennis captured the enemy's colours. As he waved at his own troops he shouted out words of encouragement to keep advancing and while waving it about, yelled that ..."Every Bullet is Worth a Cow."

This was no doubt said while remembering the importance of that cow the farmer gave him to feed his family months earlier.

This is the Confederate flag of the 31st Mississippi Regiment of Infantry that Dennis captured.

But as Dennis was rallying his New York Infantry unit to keep coming forth, he hollered out the above phrase and was immediately shot dead by the Confederates. He was only 19 or 20 at the time. A southern shot hit the flag pole, bounced up and hit Dennis in the head, instantly killing him.

For well over 120 years many tried to find where Dennis was buried, without success. But then came along a fellow named John DuBois. Several years ago John was a historian for Dennis's old regiment, the 136th New York Infantry. And John was most interested in the Buckley story. It turns out that everywhere Dennis went, so went a fellow name DuBois... John's grandfather, William E DuBois.

And he too was killed at Peach Tree Creek and was thought to be at Dennis's side when the Lindsay youth was killed.

Years of research finally hit John when he thought of going to the Marietta grave site to look for his relative's grave and perhaps Dennis's would be close by. Turns out they were right next to each other. The DuBois marker was misspelled, and so was the Buckley grave. And thus the difficulty for over a century in finding both. Two men lost to history for almost 125 years.

Here we see the old grave stone for Buckley. On the left it was incredibly difficult to read. With some careful cleaning up the image on right shows the same grave stone. And now it was readable. But Buckley's name was misspelled and actually read BURKLEY.

After hearing about a news story regarding the grave being found, I contacted John DuBois. I assisted with making a few calls and aiding his journey to get a new marker and also put him in contact with the Canadian Counsel General office locating in Marietta Georgia, quite close to where the unveiling was to take place. A formal unveiling assisted by many officials including the Canadian government then took place in 2006.

This is a picture of the Buckley grave at Marietta National Cemetery outside of Atlanta Georgia years later.

I later contacted John DuBois regarding the story and noted that I had an interest in doing the same for him in Canada... at Lindsay, his home town.

After I wrote an article in the local paper I was stunned to learn that the Victoria County Historical Society, in Lindsay had heard from Lindsay Monument, a firm that makes monuments and that they had offered to make a memorial stone for Buckley at no charge to the Historical Society.

Soon plans came to fruition and a formal unveiling ceremony took place in April 2007. John DuBois and several family members and others from the 136th re-enactors from this NY City regiment, as well as an Ontario group of Civil War re-enactors participated in the service. Also attending were several dignitaries including from the US Consulate office in Toronto, at my request.

Here is the new marker in Ontario. I had not seen it prior to the day that I and John DuBois did the actual unveiling. The monument company did a great job but there are two problems with the marker. To begin with, it looks like an actual burial marker. There are no remains buried here. And thus the marker really is what is referred to as a Memorial Marker.

It most interesting also noted the quote about the cow, very pertinent to those who know the whole story.

But missed by me on the day of unveiling was that the firm used an image of an Air Force Medal of Honor. This is quite different than the proper one, being for army service.

I shall make inquiries re the correcting of this... if possible.

If you are ever in Lindsay I think it would be great for you to stop by the Riverside Cemetery. Check out the memorial and reflect on the cost this youth paid to quell the terrible slaughters of the Civil War.

More next Sunday. Hope you will join me then,

Bart

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Yet Still More Updates...

5/4/2022

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One in every 50 men, women and children left home for the gathering. They would never come home again!

These 620,000 enlisted and fought in the US Civil War that began, they say, with the firing of over 3,000 shells weighing upwards of 128 pounds each, on what was, and remains known as Fort Sumter.

It was on the 11th and 12th of April 1861, and that was 159 years ago a few weeks past.

Despite the massive poundings fired by the Southern Confederates, the Union did not lose a single man from enemy action.

As shown in past blogs, here are pre and during bombing images of the Fort.

When forced to surrender due to supply shortages, the Union commander... Major Anderson requested that the Southern's Brig. General Beauregard allow the Union to take down their flag. Also requested was permission to fire off a 100 gun salute. The captors gave approval.

It was then that an Irishman became what many claim was the first death of the war. He was getting ready to fire off the 47th volley, but a spark blew the barrel up, tearing off the soldier's arm. Within hours he'd be dead!

About a half dozen others also were killed when the same sparks set off shells ready to be fired. The resulting explosions took their lives as well.

So the claimed first deaths in the US Civil War, were NOT caused by enemy action, but in fact by ACCIDENT.

The first fellow to die was a 36 year old soldier named Daniel Hough. His name is proudly displayed on the US Government sponsored plaque at the Fort Sumter National Monument near Charleston South Carolina. Here is an image of that monument.

Seen above is an enlarged photo of part of the plaque and showing Hough's name at its bottom.

These are the two commanders that faced each other at Fort Sumter. The Union's Major Anderson on top and the Confederates Brig. General Beauregard at bottom.

Ironically Anderson and Beauregard both attended West Point. During their training Beauregard held a junior rank to Anderson and was even his assistant at some point at the Academy. Note Anderson's obvious elder age as shown above.

I wanted to bring you this tidbit three weeks ago but managed to get tied up with other matters at the time of the 159th anniversary of this famous Civil War event.

Moving along to another matter, I have been a proud member of a group of US researchers into all matters relating to the Medal of Honor. In fact I joined shortly after it first opened its doors back in 2009 and remain its sole Canadian member. My interest is mostly directed towards the Canadians that were awarded the Medal of Honor.

A matter most in Canada are oblivious to!

Over the years the society has been of much more benefit to me than I to it. However, we have worked jointly on a number of MOH related matters. One of the most attention getting was the collaborative efforts of it and myself in the Joseph Noil story covered many times in these blogs.

Our group is called the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States.

Here we see the society cover page logo for one of its numerous newsletters each year.

And below, the just released wonderful new logo for our society.

The above issue of the newsletter brought the readers a story about Canadian Medal of Honor recipient John Handran. He and fellow sailor Edward Madden (Maddin) were born in Newfoundland.

Both were on the USS Franklin (shown below) at the time. And both received Medals of Honor for their bravery in saving a fellow sailor blown overboard while the vessel was caught up in the strong movement of tides near Portugal's capital city of Lisbon.

The man was destined to drown if not for the bravery of these two heroes and a third sailor.

Here's what the New York Herald had to say about the heroes that day.

The Rear Admiral of the day and in charge of the Franklin and other vessels, was William Radford. Having commanded 6 warships previously, one was the USS Cumberland. Much had been noted in this space about the USS Cumberland and the major clash between two ironclads, that quite literally changed warship building around the world.

The Cumberland was sunk in minutes, taking over 100 lives to their watery graves. Of the survivors, one Canadian went on later in the US Civil War to earn the Medal of Honor. The sole loss of one sailor for the Confederates that deadly day was yet another Canadian. He was from New Brunswick. At least another dozen Canadians had connections with that famous battle.

One so important that a depiction of it appeared on the Union's medal of service for all those who served in the navy on Union side during that famous war. Images of the medal are shown in earlier blogs.

In the early days General Orders were often issued that listed all the men receiving a Medal of Honor. Here is the one covering the actions at Lisbon.

About a dozen years later John Handran found himself working in the fishing trade and onboard the schooner Cleopatra. It was soon caught up in a horrible storm that sank many a vessel. His was about to go down and distress flags were hoisted.

Then something incredibly brave happened. The ship's captain realized that any vessel coming to their aid would probably result in some of them actually dying. He then discussed it with his crew and actually took a vote to wave off any attempts for their rescue knowing full well that all on boards would then be doomed.

All the man agreed and the flag was lowered. But in the confusion the rescuers still came forth. But by then several men on the Cleopatra had drowned. John Handran being one of these. For a whopping 2 cents you could buy the Boston Daily Globe on 29 December 1885. And therein, actually on its first page, you will find this brief notation...

Our society newsletter above told some of this story, and noted that it was not until 2021 that Medal of Honor hero John Handran was finally being honoured. This not being a formal grave marker as his body was never found, but a Memorial Marker instead. This is located at the Calvary Cemetery at Gloucester M.A. honoring Canadian John Handran with the Memorial below...

Several members of the extended family attended the service recently at Calvary Cemetery.

A heartfelt thanks from those of us in Canada who know of our Medal of Honor connection to the US, and to all those yet to waken up to the role we on both sides of the border shared in protecting a peace that is so much in need of attention as I write and you read.

A huge thanks also to those that in our society and the extended Handran family for helping to preserve this man's story for all to enjoy and learn from in the days and weeks and months and years to come.

I will be off on other duties this coming Sunday but should be back in this space on the 15th.

Thanks to all, and please take some time to tell others of the work this blog is doing.

In the mean time, your comments are most welcome on this site.

Cheers,

Bart

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Delay till Wed. or Sunday

More Medal of Honor News

More Tidbits for Your Canadian Medal of Honor Files

Yet Still More Updates...

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

Archives

Categories

Delay till Wed. or Sunday

More Medal of Honor News

More Tidbits for Your Canadian Medal of Honor Files

Yet Still More Updates...

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

Archives

Categories

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