When several states broke away from the Union and the Civil War started, President Lincoln felt he had a great  advantage over the South. He would simply control who comes and goes across the 3000 or more miles of coastline that wrapped around many of these states. The administration  immediately directed that the ports be closed to commerce. His commanding General, Winfield Scott, soon put together the Anaconda Plan,  the snake that circled the south.

Ships from other parts of the US, or Atlantic Canada, England. Mexico and the rest of the world could not now bring desperately needed supplies to the Confederacy. Nor could the South use the waterways to move its own supplies and troops throughout its region, or off to other parts of the world for commerce and resupply.

Ships trying to break through in either direction came to be known as blockade runners. During the 5 years of hostilities there would be about 3,000 attempts to come or go undetected. Since most were at night, some suggest they enjoyed a success rate of about 80%.  The Union did however claim capture of about 1,000 vessels and either grounded  or destroyed some 350 more.

The CSS Alabama, pictured at right,  was perhaps the most successful commercial raider. It never docked at a Confederate shore but it sure created havoc for the Union on the highseas. Over a 2 year span it made 7 major voyages, and spent 534 of its 657 day life at sea doing its bussiness. Her score card included the boarding of 450 vessels, the capture of 65 Union merchant ships and the taking of over 2000 prisoners.

Having cost the Union over 6 million in losses, it was a most dreaded enemy. But the Union finally had a plan to deal with it. The North would build a massive vessel with a primary job. Capture or destroy the Alabama.

It would be named the USS Kearsarge, (to the left),  was commissioned in late 1862 and sailed directly to European waters on the hunt for the Alabama. Traveling from port to port with her specially selected and trained crew, including several Canadians, she would soon find that the Alabama was in port at Cherbourg France having some minor repairs being made.  The port being neutral, any attack could not be made while it was moored.

A messeage was sent in to invite the Alabama out to do battle. It would take a few days but when the Alabama had finally cleared port, and started to head offshore a few miles to meet her challenge, there were a few witnesses gathered. Actually a few thousand would line the shorelines and hundreds on  smaller vessels  would drop anchor a few miles away and at a safe distance to take in the action. It has been said that the sea battle about to start was one of the most witnessed sea battles in all history. Many hundreds even arrived by special trains from Paris. A few famous  painters arrived to capture on canvass the history about to be made. 

While the two combatants were almost a duplicate of each other by virtue of size, weapons and crews, It was anything but an even battle.

The Alabama had discipline problems. Its sailors were were not well trained and their powder was old and had been in storage for a long time. But the Kearsarge crew was hand picked for the job. They were highly trained and regularly exercised on their duties and had top notch weaponry skills and tools.

Also to be factored into the equasion is the fact that while the Confederates had lots of experience attacking those mostly unarmed and untrained, the Union sailors experience was at battle with those who actually fought back.

The battle painted here, nearing its end, consisted of each ship sailing in the opposite direction but on an inwards course... and thus the two would be going aroung in a circle... keeping their heaviest guns facing each other. They would do this for about an hour and complete 7 circles before the  disciplined fire of the Kearsarge destroyed the undisciplined firing of the Alabama. It was said that for every 2 shots the Confederate ship fired, the Union chose to take a good aim and only fire once. 

The hundred pound shell you see in this picture is lodged in the sternpost of the Kearsarge. Had it blown up it would have probably destroyed the vessel and many on board.  But because of the powder problems, it like many others did not blow up. A piece of the post was actually cut out and at the request of the President, shipped back to the US to be put on display at the capitol. It still exists today.

A close look at the above painting shows that the Kearsarge had launched rescue boats for the survivors struggling in the water and that the Alabama, begining to sink,  had her colours finally pulled down.

There were Canadians on both vessels that were trying to kill each other. This was true also during the famous battle 2 years earlier involving the Monitor and the Merrimack, and true also at many battles throughout the war.

A small grave at a cliff's edge on the Cherbourg Harbour contains the remains of 3 Confederate sailors. One of them was born in New Brunswick. One of the officers on the Alabama was a fellow names Armstrong, (not related)  who after the war would live many years as a most influential citizen at Halifax.  John Hayes served on the Kearsarge as did Joachim Pease, a coloured sailor and at least a dozen other non-American born men. Hayes was from Newfoundland. Pease originally thought to be from the US, then thought to be from Newfoundland, probably came from  South Africa.

President Abraham Lincoln would approve Medals of Honor for Hayes and Pease and another 15 Union sailors about 6 months later. This would be announced in a General Order dated 31 December 1864.  And that was exactly 148 years ago today.

Hayes came from a small farming family in Brogus, just a few miles from the colony's capital at St John's. In youth he took up the trade of a cooper but soon found more interest in serving with the Merachant Marines and so off he went to  serve with a British marine outfit. He would also served with American marine outfits on both the east and west coast and serve about 7 years in the US Navy. After this he took up mariner duties on the Great Lakes for a  short period then retuned to land to take a wife and start to raise a family. He would set up home in Boston, them later at Wisconsin and still later at Iowa.

During all these moves about, it may have been the cause for his address being lost to Navy officials. Thus possibly the cause of his having to wait FORTY YEARS before his Medal of Honor finally caught up with him. He was reading an old naval document... possibly the General Order of today's date... but back in 1864, and therein he stumbled onto his name in a list of sailors awarded the Medal of Honor. He immedaitely wrote the government, gave them a piece of his mind, and in the process said that.... "That Medal is Mine and I Want it. He soon received it in the mail and you can see him just a few years before he passed away proudly wearing his MOH and on its right, as you look at the picture, is a gold medal the folks of Boston raised money to buy for all of the ship's company after learning they destroyed the Alabama.

His medals are now prized keepsakes of descendants who have provided me with a lot of material and photos including the one above. This Medal of Honor and the 16 others from that battle were the first in US history to be awarded for action outside of the US.

Yet another story of Canadians playing roles in events of historic US significance, and yet few Canadians know about it.

Thus this website and my reasearch!

Bart

PEI might be Canada's smallest province but she still produced at least four boys or young men that would go off to war and come home with a Medal of Honor.

Charles McGillivary would be one of these lads. Born at Charlottetown in 1917, he'd get his basic education and then land a job as a merchant mariner, like so many others from coastal communities. By the age of 16 he was heading off to the US and at Boston meeting up with a brother who took him in for a while. Charles continued working with the merchant marines and as WW11 started he and his mates would find themselves  in constant danger from enemy submarine attacks. 

After the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour  Charles was so angered that he decided to head into the fight himself. He joined  the US army and not long after he and two other non-American born volunteer soldiers found  themselves standing in front of a judge, swearing allegiance and becoming American citizens. It would not be long before he was fighting his way through Europe.

On June 6th 1944 Charles McGillivary (pictured on left)  and some 43,500 other Americans stormed their portion of a 125 Km long waterfront in the Normandy Invasion to liberate Europe. Aiding the Allies of several countries  in the battle would be 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles and 11,000 planes.
 
The American sector was known as Omaha Beach and to its left, or east were Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. Utah was to the Americans' right or west. While Charles was fighting across the beaches at Omah, 14,000 of his fellow Canadians were pushing their way inland from the beach at Juno.  Over the next 2 1/2 months the Allies would have loses of 210,000 men, and the enemy another 450,000. 

It would be about 4 months later when an American soldier posted as lookout on top of a water tower would call his commander with some bizaar news. It was only 5.30 in the morning silence, but nevertheless there were the lights. Too many to count. Indeed they were. What he was seeing was the beginning on the German offensive known by the enemy as Autumn Mist, but to the Allies it would become known as the "Battle of the Bulge." What the soldier saw was the flashing caused by the firing of over 2,000 German howitzers, no doubt he thought pointed straight at his water tower.  (I have no info on how long it took him to climb down!)

Thus began an 8 week battle that would become the biggest battle the US Army EVER  participated in. Over a million battled it out with 120,000 Germans being killed, captured, or becoming a POW or missing in action. More than 800 tanks were lost. On both sides! On the first day alone many platoons and companies of men lost not only their commanders but also very high numbers of troops.

The above pictures gives an indication of the horrible winter both sides also had to contend with. Men poorly equiped because supplies were running out were getting frostbite causing the need to evacute some 15,000 troops. Men reported being unable to see beyond  10 to 20 yards to their front or sides because of blinding snow storms.

Sgt Charles McMcgillivary became the commander of his company when his superiors were all lost to the enemy. There was  talk of surrender when they almost  ran out of ammunition. But then he had an idea. On earlier patrols he saw some of the locations of German machine gun nests, and felt that a sneak attack on some of them, one by one, might destroy them. So off he went on a one man mission knowing that if he failed his men would probably be captured or killed. Crawling from tree to tree he found not one, nor wo, or even three, but four enemy nests and killed some 36 top SS troops.  At the last nest he took 8 shots in the left arm and it was such a mess that he had to pack snow around it to freeze what was left of his arm and prevent bleeding and certian death.  He was later found  and hauled off for medical attention and later shipped back to the US. For his bravery his adopted country awarded him with the top medal they could present to anyone...the Medal of Honor. 

At a special ceremony at the Whtehouse on 23 August 1945 some 28 men were presented their medals of Honor. Charles McGillivary was one of these heroes.

Note the left arm prosthesis and the medal of honor that  President Harry S Truman just draped around his neck.

Charles remained in the Boston area, got married and raised a family. He worked in the treasurery Department for many years and even at one point was responsible for the inspection of Chritmas trees coming into the country... from a place called Canada.

As noted yesterday in this space, Charles served  during the US Bi Centennial as the President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society of the United States. It is believed that he was the only Non- American born to so serve.

He spent many years working with a long list of organizations representing the miltary including the AMVETS, the Legion Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and the Amputees Assication.

McGillivary met every president during his life from Truman until his death in mid 2000.

He even met this 29 year old  fellow who was running for Congress. The picture was probably taken on 9 October 1945 during the World Series at Fenway Park between St Louis and Boston. (The Cardinals took the series.)  In this picture, future President  JFK has just presented Charles with the game ball.

In the shadows of Fenway today is a park named in Honor of PEI born Charles McGillivary. At Braintree MA. and Boston there are buildings and an armouries named in his honour.

It would be nice to see a federal building or structure of some type, perhaps a school named after Charles back home at Charlottetown someday.

Bart Armstrong

For over 150 years Medal of Honor recipients have died off and been buried all across the US, and around the world, including here in Canada.  These markers that are placed at their final resting places have taken many shapes and sizes over the years. Often it lacks any indication whatsoever of the hero status of the deceased, as noted in past blogs and other areas of this web site. To remind the reader,  to the left is a Canadian recipient's marker in California. It tells you nothing other than his name and birth and death years.

To its right is one of the newer markers for Youngs,  which clearly identifies the deceased as a medal recipient.

In many cases these markers are completely unreadable, such as Joseph Noil's grave located outside of Washington DC. There is a process being undertaken to have his marker updated and to be in the form of Dennis Buckley's to the right, an Ontario born recipient, and BF Youngs above pictured, and yet another Ontario recipient.

These types of markers saw their birth in the  US bicentenial of 1976. A few years previous to this  the U.S. President communicated with several groups and asked them  to come up with a plan to better highlight the incredible bravery and accomplishments of the medal recipients who had passed away.  From that request came the National Cemetery Sysytem's Medal of Honor Memorial Project.

The project would last two years and had a goal,... "to identify and memorialize deceased Medal of Honor recipients in a manner more benefiting these gallant dead whose deeds of valor in behalf of the United States of America have won...( GRRRRRR!)  for them this nation's highest military award."  

Many meetings took place  with representation of the  National Cemetery System, the Veterans Administration's Advisory Committee on Cemetaries and Memorials,  the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and the US Army's Institute of Heraldty.

One of the thoughts of this group was to have two types of markers: those that stood and those that lay flat. But to then have a disc of some form created that would represent all the military...ie the Navy, the Army the Airforce, Coast Guards and Marines.This disc would be fastened to the marker and have a circle of 13 stars around it.

But the then serving President of the Medal of Honor Society...Sgt Charles McGillivary strongly objected to any form of a disc that could be mounted..but just as easily removed by vandals. He further noted that no new device should be created and that an army recipient's marker ought to have INSCRIBED on the marker his army affiliation, likewise for the navy etc. Any engraving was also to be in gold lettering. The committee agreed, and it was approved by Admiral John McCain,  Chair of the VA's Advisory Committee on Cemeteries and Memorials. (His son of the same name, a war hero and senator, recently ran for the Presidency of the US)  A further note: McGillivary was himself a recipient having earned his medal in the Battle of the Bulge... was born in Canada and will be the  subject of tomorrow's blog.

The decision was made to have the first ever new marker unveiled on Memorial Day in 1976. This was however later changed and to take place during National Armed Forces Week so as not to take away any of the attention rightly due to Memorial Day. The group considered where the event should take place and it was decided to use the cemetery that was nationally operated and that held at that time the most Medal of Honor recipients remains. Thus, it would..and did take place... on 11 May 1976 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific located at Honolulu Hawaii.

The cermony was conducted by many officials including the Secretary  of the Navy, the State Governor and many officials including the late senator Danial K Inouye, a Medal of Honor recipient, who just passed away just 12 days ago today.

Twenty three new style  markers were unveiled that day,  and every one of the deceased except one were killed in the actions that resulted in their receiving the Medal of Honor.

It would take 26 yrs from that first unveiling before the United States created a new marker that would be the first ever to be mounted outside of the US.  And that marker went to Horatio Young who is buried at  St. Stephen New Brunswick.

Over the years since, six of the seven recipients buried in Canada would receive one of these new markers, all flat ones like Nutting's above.

The remaining  grave in Canada will soon be receiving a new marker, possibly the upright type.

This image, taken by Bob Haskell,  shows Charles McGillivary in the centre and two Royal Canadian Legion members each holding one of the bronze markers that was installed in New Brunswick back in August of 1989.

Bart

Shortly after Abe Lincoln was elected President, many southern states broke away from the Union. When this happened many of the states that were home to federal fortification became a problem... how does the Union now defend them?

Fort Moultrie in the Charleston Harbour was one of these. It was not easy to defend, and  thus decisions were made to move across the harbour and into Fort  Sumter, pictured here. This was a massive structure actally built in the harbour and on a shoal of land that, over a decade would be built up with the dumping of over 70,000 tonnes of granite and rock.
 
Not wanting to tip off the Confederates in the area, the officer in Charge at Moultrie... Major Robert Anderson moved the men out in the middle of the night on 26 Jan 1861. The confederates were most unimpressed with the midnight move and demanded that Anderson and crew surrender the Fort.  But Anderson had no such intentions

Talks came to shoves. Soon both sides came to realize that without proper supplies the Sumter troops  would have to soon give up and move on. A federal attempt to resupply the fort encountered numerous obstacles and political interferance but then finally the USS Star of the West with supplies and HIDDEN TROOPS was ordered to Sumter. . When it approached the shores a few shots were sent over its bow she refused to proceed further and turned back. These were her orders, as  further proceeding could, in itself spark a war, that would come anyway.  More diplomatic attempts to resolve the matter ultimately met with demands to vacate or the shelling would begin.  

Edmund Ruffin of the Palmetto Guards stationed at  Morris Island...opposite Fort Sumter, was a 74 yr old serving his state.. He was so old that that his fellow soldiers gave him the honor of firing what would later be felt by some to be  the first shot of the Civil War. While another cannon shot announced the beginning of the battle to follow, Ruffin's was the first  aimed at the fort. It landed just  a few feet from the head of Major Anderson. This is his picture to the right.

That shot came very early in the morning and Sumpter waited several hours to respond. It was too dark out and reasonable aiming could not take place till daylight.   Either Anderson or a fellow officer by the name of Doubleday would fire the first shot in return. Doubleday was for years incorrectly credited with the creation of the game baseball.

After two days of bombarding the fort from over 19 batteries and thousands of shells being dropped, not a man was killed inside the massive fort.  A few dozen were killed on the Condfederate side.

Finally it was decided to haul the flag down because supplies were becoming almost complely exhausted. Terms were arranged between both sides that allowed all of the Union officers and men to vacate, not become prisoners and were given transportation away from the Fort and back to DC.

It was also arranged that Anderson would be permitted to fire off 100 rounds in honour of the US flag, and to do so while it was being lowered. On the 47th firing, a spark had entered the chamber of one of the cannons and it was not properly spounged out to ensure that any sparks were defused. But a sloppy job resulted in gunpowder being put in  the chamber, finding  a spark and blowing up, taking the arm off an Irish soldier...  Daniel Hough,  who died instantly. 

More sparks dropped on a pile of cartridges causing a second explosion  and blowing 5 men into the air with serious injuries, and one possibly dying a few days later.

Daniel  Hough's death became the first official death, though by accident, in the Civil War.

This monument was erected at Charlston in 1932 in honour of these men.

Elsewhere at this site you will read of the incredible number of Non-Americans who fought in the Civil War. Here you see that the first death was to an Irishman from Tipperary. His name appears on the plaque, as seen on the right.

Years later, when the Union recaptured Fort Sumter Anderson returned to conduct a ceremony and raise the original flag back up on its mast at the fort.

Bart

Some time ago I was browsing the web and found  the site  www.canadaka.net and explored a very large number of pages about Canadian history, tons of links and they even had something on there that I wrote  back in 2006 about
the Medal of Honor. It is dated and some of the stats therein have changed. But that said, I also found a page that had a wonderful story about being proud to be a Canadian. More to the point.. .being proud of our men and women who have served, who continue to serve and who will some day serve so that you and I can enjoy the results of their efforts.

The owner of that site has given me permission to "borrow" his letter, and use it on this site. I would be quite pleased to have you read this and then send it along.  It is important.

And so here, in this space, I dedicate the entire blog to the writer, who's name I do not even know, who wrote it to someone else who in turn sent it along to the above site.

Please enjoy, and pass it along, and visit the above site to enjoy all it offers as well....

the letter...

There were possibly thousands of Canadian Blacks that went  in reverse of the Undergound Railway to take up the cause of ending bondage in the south. One internet figure had a number of about 30,000, but that seems very high given that  an often quoted number of 50,000, both black and white went south to war.

A US National Parks document actually lists 74 Blacks from Nova Scotia alone that served on 58 ships during the Civil War. This sevice is most significant!

The Annapolis Valley area of NS, according to a very credentialed writer of that province, was home to a CW hero by the name of Benjamin Jackson. Also to a sailor named William Hall, who would become the first Black in history to earn the Victoria Cross, was Canada's third VC recipient and the first from the navy for Canada.

A third hero coming from either there or the city of Halifax is a seaman, later possibly a Captain of the Top, Joseph Benjamin Noil  (AKA Loil,) who's image appears in the recruiting poster above. Pictures of Noil are yet to surface. 

In 1872 Noil was serving on the USS Powhattan, shown here. While it was at Harbour in Virgina he heard the cries of a man who fell over board. He immedaitely secured a rope and dove in. He was pulled under twice and finally a third sailor came to his aid and both managed to save the man from drowning.  The following day he was recommended for a Medal of Honor for his bravery.  He would receive the medal and it would be the first to a Black man after the Civil War.

I have obtained a copy of the handwritten account of the events written by his commanding officer, a naval captain who would later become and admiral. Here is a typed copy of that report to the left. In essence, it is his nomination of Noil for the MOH.

Joseph Noil signed up as a recruit with the US Navy in 1864 and did several tours of  serve and was still serving, though by then in a army/navy hospital when he died in 1881. By that time he had served on more than 7 vessels.

In his later years he was living, while not at sea, in NY and there raised a family. His granddaughter Cora Hunter Parks made quite a name for herself as an accomplished singer and dancer and performed in Broadway shows, sang in the movie Wizard of Oz  and also sang with Louis Armstrong and others.

There are over 400 graves of Medal of Honor men that have yet to be found. Many of the men left the military and moved on to all parts of the country and beyond. Some would never even disclose their hero status. In fact many that are still alive to day will tell you that they do not believe for a moment that they are heroes. The listener would be told very quickly that the heroes or those who died in the battles that saw the recipient being awarded  the Medal of Honor.

As mentioned elswhere on this site, one of the tasks of the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the US, is to try to find the graves of these men. Many have been found ( 2 recently in Canada)  and new markers are often put in place beside, or in some cases actually replacing old markers that, like the one in this picture, are most difficult to read.  You can see the words US Navy at the bottom but little else. Due to the great work of fellow member Don Morfe, it has been determined that this marker  is at the final resting place of Joseph Benjamin Noil. And it and he reside less that 7 miles from the US Capitol buildings. A place he rested for over 130 years. Plans are now in place to have this marker updated.  Please come back often and hopefully I can report some results on this marker soon.

Bart

Surely you heard that one before. How about... "you can't see the forest for the trees."

Today's blog is about Black Canadian and American heroes. Men who in many cases we cannot see because those who came before us often did not want us to see. Take for example a most recent claim in a book that there were a dozen more blacks that were awarded the Medal of Honor but you don't see any of their names at the usual places listing about 86 known Black recipients. Could it now be 98, or more. Bet it's possible!  And you can also bet when more proof arises on these dozen you will read about it here in these blogs.

But for today I want to talk about two of the acknowledged heroes.

At the beginning of the Civil War very few Blacks served as soldiers. As the war progressed more and more enlisted, not because they finally wanted to fight, but because they were finally allowed to. The navy progressed much faster and some say as much as a 1/4 of the navy throughout the war were Black men. These could have been free men, or escaped or rescued slaves and thus termed contraband.

There are many sources that tell us that there was only one Black double recipient of the Medal of Honor. He was believed until most recently to be a Canadian. He was not, but more on him on another day.  There is a black recipient from Nova Scotia that will later also be talked about. And there has most recently been revealed some info that suggests that yet another Black may well be a double recipient. I am persuing this  and will bring you news ASAP. Thus the need for you to keep coming back to this blog.

But for now let's draw a line 20 miles long and drop it on a map of South Caroliona. We shall put a place called Fort Wagner at the right end and at the other end, in a south west direction let's put John's Island in the Stone River.

At each end of the line the Blacks made history!

The above poster was recruiting for the 54th Massachusetts. When the ban on Blacks entering the army was finally lifted, hundreds from several states flocked to Massachusetts to sign up with the 54th. The officers were all white and the men all Black. It took them quite some time to get paid and when they were offered less than the whites they declined all payments till paid fairly. This was the regiment selected to lead the front line suicidal attack on Fort Wagner, and where one in three was either killed, wounded or captured. Most of the killed inluding their colonel, were all thrown in the same pit and covered over.

The story of the 54th was told in the decade old movie GLORY. But like most movies about the war, it seems to have fogotten that at least 39 of the blacks fighting were Canadian black men, or had connections to Canada.

William Carney of the 54th was born a slave. He would escape and find his father who had also escaped. They would get jobs and  raise enough money to buy the family's freedom. William, who did not have a surname, because of his slave status, would meet an adult with a surname. He then met Mr Carney who believed in his cause and so he then allowed William to adopt the name. Thus, William could now sign up with the 54th and go off to war and  help free others held in bondage.

At Fort Wagner, when the colour bearer was shot down Carney grabbed the flag and whilst wounded not once or twice or three times, but 4 times, he managed to carry it through the battle, get back to his lines and finally collapse.

Carney and his flag, are shown above. His actions on 18 July 1863 would result in his being the first Black ever... by date of action, to receive the Medal of Honor, even though it took the government till 1900 to make the award.

It is quite frustrating to find that so many of these men have earned medals for heroism and then, for whatever reason,  it seems completely disappearing off the face of earth, without leaving pictures behind or even locations were they are buried.

Robert Blake was a salior and is depicted here in one of a series of posters for recruiting purposes in the 1960's. (Please disregard the word "congressional" before the term Medal of Honor as the use of the term is wrong)

Blake was also a slave. When his plantation was burned down in the Civil War he and about 400 others escaped with the aide of the Union Navy.  He would repay them by signing up with the USS Vermont first and later the USS Marblehead. (Not to be confused with the Spanish American War vessel of the same name.) It was at John's Island in the Stono River that Blake was serving as an aide to one of the officers. The vessel came uder attack and whilst having no such obligation, he took the place of a powder doy who was killed. He maintain the supply of ammunition to one of the guns and partially due to his efforts the battle was won, and the enemy retreated.  He would receive his medal by a general order issued on 16 April 1864 for the battle that took place on 25 December 1863.  So he technically was the first Black man to receive the MOH.  And that was 149 years ago today.

After a dozen years  researching some of the heroes who earned the Medal of Honor one would think I'd get used to statements like that in the title.  If you go to the standard sources to read about the Canadian about to be revealed to you in today's blog, this is what you would learn. It tells you nothing about what he did that was so extraordinary that he qualified for and actually was awarded the highest honour the US government could present for bravery in the face of the enemy. The vagueness of the title is troubling. But often that is what a researcher is left with. Take for example the many dozens of times the reader is told a hero was awarded, (notice I did not say won),  the MOH for saving... or capturing a flag or saving a man from drowning. But what is the story behind the story?  Often it is near impossible to find this out.

As fustrating is the lack of detail about where the fellow came from. Today"s hero came from Canada. Just where in Canada has yet to be discovered. But at least I have his right name. This is not always the case. Some enlisted under phoney names because they had run away from home, wife and kids, pregnant girlfriends, debts, or maybe 'all of the above".  Some used nicknames  instead of the real name. Some made up places they were from because they thought the recuiter would not enroll them unless they came from the US. One Canadian signed up in a name close to his but not quite correct. This fellow had very poor English and did not want to offend the recruiter who could not understand what he was saying, and so his name became what the officer decided was his (new) name. A name that stayed with him all through the Civil War and then for many more years till it came time to try and get a pension. A battle in itself that he probably felt was worse than some of his war experiences. 

 Creative applicants also took advantage off the bonus system. As the war advanced more and more warriors were needed. So the towns and states and even the feds decided to offer different amounts of bounty if you signed up. These ranged from a few hundred dollars to, in some cases a few thousand. And in those days $300 bought you a nice farm. One fellow signed up, deserted, signed up under another name and got a 2nd bounty. Things went so smoothly that he did it again and again and again, till on his 40th attempt he got caught and thrown in the brig.  But I digress! There was also something called SUBSITUTE SERVICE. If there was no way you could leave the farm or had other bonafide excuses you could actually hire someone to go off to war in your place. You paid them a few bucks  to do this. Some would even keep the name of the person they were replacing. One fellow who went off to war and being paid as a sustitute, served for a fellow who's name you might know. It was  Abraham Lincoln.  And yes, it was the same guy!

Carlos H Rich is today's hero.  He was an infanteer with the 4th Vermont and no doubt participated in many of the regiments major battles during his 3 1/2 years in  the Civil War. He progressed through the ranks and finished service as a First Sergeant. But while a Sergeant guess what he did?

"He saved the life of an officer."    Really!

This happened on the first of the three day Battle of the Wilderness, as shown, and in Harpers Weekly June 1864. from the battle of a month earlier.

The three day Battle of the Wilderness pitted none other than General USS Grant against General Robert E Lee. Lee wanted to secure Richmond and Grant wanted to crush Lee and advance on Richmond.  Trouble is that the area for this battle lay in 15 mile long stretch, and 10 miles deep of dense growth of trees vines and shrubbery that made advance on either side most troubling. Hand to hand combat and the firing of muskets at very close range...often into dense clouds of smoke from so many muskets firing. Complete blindness was the order of much of the battle. At one point an oficer actually stumbled back to his HQ and, according to his boss,..." assured me that he found a large chestnut tree on one side of which was lying nine of our men, and seven of the enemy on the  other side and no place could he find 12 feet of ground that had not been hit by bullets."  

During the battle musket sparks lit the forest on fire and ..."thousands perished in the dense thickets west of Fredericksburg, among them hundreds of wounded who were burned alive by the  raging forest fires." 
In the midst of all of this Sgt Rich, himself already wounded,  managed to crawl out and save one of his officers, a Lt. Edward W Carter, pictured above. Rich would later state that he could not ask the man to stand up becauese his guts were wripped open and he was afraid they will spill onto the ground. The man was ultimately moved at least 11 times before getting to a hospital bed, sewn up and later recovered  and being released from further service.

It was for this bravery that Rich was awarded the Medal of Honor, not on 4 Jan 1865 like all the records seem to show, but on 24 December 1864 as evidenced in a news report the following day in a NY paper.

And that award was took place 148 years ago today.

The street sign named after  Carlos Rich, is pictured elsewhere on this site.

Bart

They got the calendar wrong. It wasn't the 25th, but only the 23rd.  They also got the numbers wrong and instead of nine or ten helpers for Santa, they had 15. Even the sleigh was wrong. They used a 295 ton sidewheeing steamer. But boy did they bring a big present! It wouldn't fit in the chimney so they tried to leave it at the doorstep.. till it went bang and surprised the recipients in the middle of the night.

Our story begins in late 1864 when a Union General had a great idea. Let's blow up Fort Fisher in the middle of the night. We'll  load up a warship with gunpowder, set it ablaze and the explosion will knock down the walls of the fort, will dismantle the 44 powerful guns the Confederate have and during the enemy's confusion we will advance thousands of soldiers into the fort and capture all the soldiers that had not yet been killed.

The Fort clearly had to be taken. It protected access to the port of Wilmington North Carolina and this port was the last stronghold for the blockade runners that regularly brought in supplies for the South's war efforts.  Its destruction would bring the war much closer to an end.

So plans were drawn up and a very select crew of  officers and men, totalling 15 were selected from the crew of the Union's USS Agawam, pictured above. Three of those selected were Canadians. (At least ten were serving on the vessel at that time.)  This was no doubt a suicide mission with serious chances that they would not be returning. As in other similar events during the war,  the men may have made out their wills and sent letters home to loved ones in the days before the plan was put into place.

The decision was made to strip down the USS Louisiana, a 295 ton, 150 ft long sidewheeler, pictured on left,  and load it up with gunpowder. The men would first have to sail her about 100 miles to another port to strip her down and then start packing over 215 tons of gunpowder in 50 pound sand bags and cannisters on several parts of the vessel and also hook up an elaborate timing mechanism that would allow them to light it, and get out of harm's way before she blew up. 

But for the entire sail back to the start point... another 100 miles, the crew would be now sitting on a floating bomb. A very big one. Any accident or sparks on the decks, or enemy shots would blow the lot of them sky high.

But they got her loaded up and back to the start point again without incident. Then not wanted to be heard by the enemy, she was towed buy a third vessel towards her target, but then the mission was called off due to whether conditions. So back out to sea they went with their big time bomb.  They would have to wait out the several day delay... still sitting on the bomb. Any number of events could have seen them taking their last breath of life. But finally on the 23rd they got the go-ahead and so the tow line was fastened and off they headed towards shore. But there was far too much light for the night and because of a fear that the enemy might see them, it was decided to anchor the vessel about 450 yards off shore. The original plan called for only 150 Yards. 

Once in place, the two officers sent the men back in a row boat to the towing vessel. They then lit the timer and also started a small fire with some firewood in an open cabin. Then boarding the rowboat, they got to the towing vessel as fast as possible and headed some 12 miles out to sea to join the rest of the fleet. Now they could stand by for the fireworks, hopefully at a safe distance.

The plan called for the explosion at shortly after 1a.m.,  but it did not come till about 30 minutes later. By that time the USS  Louisiana had drifted a little and experts would later determine that the timing device was a complete failure. It was the fire in the cabin that finally reached the powder. But by that time about 80% of it had blown away by the early morning breeze. The entire exercise was a complete failure as there was little if any damage to the fort. In fact, while heard some 20 miles away, it was also heard in the fort. But because the chambers for the crews were well below ground with tons of earth above them to cushion any blows from enemy shells, they also dulled the noise. Some felt it was little more than one vessel colliding with another way out at sea.  It brought no hoped for panic in the fort.

The above picture is from the sea looking onto land and the fort.

Because of the incredible dangers involved, all of the crew except the officers, who were not entitled under then rules, were awarded a Medal of Honor. One would go to Canadian  William Garvin and another to Canadian  John Neil. (One of the officers was also a Canadian.)  I've yet to find the leaf that, if turned over, will reveal the exact jobs of Garvin and Neil on the "powder boat"  on that day , 148 years ago today.

Bart

Of the 2.7 million who fought on the Union side in the Civil War, it has been estimated that 2 million were only 21 yrs old or younger. One internet site claims that there were over two dozen  UNDER THE AGE OF 10.

So I guess Luther Crawford Ladd was an old man by the age of 17 when he put on the uniform and marched off to war and rode into history as the first ever to be killed by the enemy. (One of the recipients I will be blogging about later was ony 16 when he earned his Medal of Honor)

Luther was raised on the farm. There were many siblings but most died at a very early age, as did his mother.

It was just 4 days after the bombing at Fort Sumter that President Lincoln put out the call for 75,000 men to help preserve the Union. This patriot heard that call and immediately  signed up  and appeared at home wearing the uniform of the City Guards, better known as Lowell's Guard (6th Massachussetts Volunteer Militia.) His brother-in-law felt so angered because of his  tender age that he offerred to take Luther's place, but Luther refused to trade places.  In fact he chose that very unit as he felt it had the best bet of being called up first. And it was. The photo, shown here, and  taken that day, was later printed in the Harpers' Weekly and  was probably the last  taken of the youth.

Ladd's unit had to travel by train to Washington DC, and the route would travel  through Spring-field, Hartford, New York, Trenton, and Philadel- phia. But at Baltimore on 19 April 1861 things turned ugly. The city had already made it know it did not want troops traveling through its streets. But because the city would not allow trains to drive through the city, those travelling beyond had to get off at one end and travel several blocks and board another train on the other side. This short route consisted of a set of rails with a rail car that was pulled along by horses.  So Ladd's unit boarded these on arrival at Baltimore and started the short trip. But they found the line had been blocked by obstructions. So the men did the natural thing. They got off and started marching through town. But an angry mob appeared and started thowing bricks and other missiles. Others continued the assault from the upper  floors of the buildings. Soon pistol shots rang out and the troops reponded in kind. Many on both sides were wounded and killed.  Ladd was first struck in the head, he went down but was struck again in a leg severing an artery. Wihin minutes he was dead.  He would be the first in uniform killed by enemey action in the war.

Three others would join him. The police finally managed to control the crowds and the several companies and their wounded and dead finally made it to the rest of the Regiment that had gotten through before the mob started its assault. 

Upon arrival at Boston two young women who had been employed at the capital came to the aid of the wounded. They were sisters. They took the needy into their own home to nurse them. One of these women was none other than Clara Barton, pictured here,  who would start the American Red Cross in the early 1870's.  

When Private Ladd was killed...  he was not the first Union soldier to die in the war. He was the first to be killed by the enemy.
 
As a salute was being performed by the firing of a cannon and the lowering for the final time of the flag at Fort Sumter and explosion occured.  A soldier by the name of Pte Daniel Hough was killed.  And this was on 14 April 1861. Hough was killed by an accident after some 35 hours of bombing of his fort, and the dropping of some 4,800 shells.. without a single death.  

Private  Luther C. Ladd was born 169 years ago today !

Bart