Medal of Honor

For many years following the Civil War, the general public largely forgot, slighted, or ignored the officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted men of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) who received the Medal of Honor for their heroism at New Market Heights. Still, none of these critical evaluations could change the fact that April 6, 1865, marked the very first time in American history that Black soldiers were awarded Medals of Honor.

Eventually, sixteen men who fought at New Market Heights received Medals of Honor. An examination of who these men were and what they did will demonstrate that they were more than deserving of their Medals of Honor.

The recipients presented here are in the order of the two brigades in which they fought at New Market Heights. In doing so it shows how the two waves of attack progressed during the battle. We will start with the brigade of Col. Samuel A. Duncan of the 3^rd Division, 18^th Corps, Army of the James.

A native of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, William H. Appleton was 19 when he enlisted in 1861, in the 2^nd New Hampshire Infantry. Two years later, he decided to become an officer in the USCT and received promotion to 2^nd Lieutenant in Co. H, 4^th United States Colored Infantry (USCI) in August 1863. Leading from the front helped him receive recognition as being one of the first men into the Confederate works during the June 15, 1864, fighting at Petersburg. On September 29, 1864, Appleton again was out in front when Duncan’s Brigade assaulted the New Market Line. His Medal of Honor citation references his “valiant service” and how he inspired his men “by his example of steady courage.” Virtually every other white officer in the 4^th USCI became a casualty, so this display of courage happened while nearly all of his brother officers fell around him. Appleton survived the war and received his Medal of Honor in 1891. He passed away in 1912, at the age of 69.

Perhaps the most famous of the New Market Heights Medal of Honor recipients was Christian Abraham Fleetwood. Born free in Baltimore in 1840, Fleetwood appears in census records as a “mulatto” who worked as a clerk. He had received a formal education and was working for a Black newspaper at the time the war broke out. In 1863, Fleetwood enlisted in Company G, 4^th USCI. He quickly rose to sergeant major, which placed him in charge of the regiment’s left flank at New Market Heights. Fleetwood charged forward with his regiment, witnessing it suffer over fifty percent casualties. The color guard was especially hard hit, and when both the national and regimental standards were in jeopardy, he rushed forward under what he later called a “deadly hailstorm of bullets” to make sure they did not fall. His citation credits him with saving the national colors and bearing “them nobly throughout the fight.” He also rallied the survivors of his regiment and ensured that they made it safely off the field. He received his medal on April 6, 1865. After the war he married and settled in Washington, D.C., where he passed away on September 28, 1914, just one day prior to the 50^th anniversary of New Market Heights.

Two other USCTs who struggled to rescue the 4^th USCIs colors were Alfred B. Hilton and Charles Veal. Hilton was a free man who hailed from central Maryland. He joined the army along with two of his brothers in 1863. Veal, another free man of color, enlisted from his native Portsmouth, Virginia, where he had been a fireman. Sgt. Maj. Fleetwood had good things to say about both men. He described Hilton as “a magnificent specimen of manhood, over six feet tall and splendidly proportioned.” Hilton’s brawn came in handy at New Market Heights, where he took both of the regiment’s flags from their stricken bearers and carried them forward until sustaining a grievous wound that resulted in the loss of his right leg. As he fell, he called out, “Boys, save the colors!” at which point Fleetwood and Veal arrived to help. For his part, Veal pressed forward with the regimental colors. Veal “struggled through the two lines of abatis” and made it to the earthworks but could advance no farther. Writing after the war, Fleetwood said he had “never been able to understand how Veal and I lived under such a hail of bullets.” Hilton died from his wound less than a month after the battle. Veal lived until 1872. Both men received the Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865, and both are buried at Hampton National Cemetery in Virginia.

The only other regiment in Duncan’s Brigade to make the attack was the 6^th USCI, which withstood just as much punishment as the 4^th. Eighteen officers went in leading the 6^th. Fourteen of them became casualties. One of those casualties was 1^st Lt. Nathan Edgerton of Ohio. Born into a Quaker family and thus raised to be a pacifist, Edgerton nevertheless chose to fight when the Civil War broke out. By the time of New Market Heights, he was the regimental adjutant of the 6^th, and as such he rode on horseback behind the main line when Duncan’s assault began. When the regiment came under intense fire and balked, he rode forward until musket fire killed his horse at Four Mile Creek. Jumping the creek on foot, he found the regiment’s colors in the lifeless grasp of one his fellow officers and carried it on as best he could until his arm went limp from a bullet wound. Edgerton received his Medal of Honor in 1898, and lived a long successful life in his native Pennsylvania before moving to Oregon where he passed away in 1932.

The soldier who ran to the assistance of Lt. Edgerton and prevented the 6^th USCI’s regimental flag from touching the ground was Thomas R. Hawkins of Cincinnati. Born in 1840, Hawkins was living in Philadelphia when the war broke out, and he enlisted in Company C of the 6^th in 1863. He was a model soldier and rose to sergeant major, which was usually the highest enlisted rank attainable at the time by a Black soldier. This placed him in a position to work with the others of that rank within the brigade, including Christian Fleetwood, who became a close friend. During the initial attack on New Market Heights, Hawkins ran to the support of the wounded Lt. Edgerton and carried the flag off the field once they received orders to withdraw. He suffered wounds to his arm, hip, and foot. The regimental surgeon deemed Hawkins as two-thirds disabled. Hawkins had to watch as Fleetwood and eleven other participants in the attack received their Medals of Honor on April 6, 1865. Hawkins petitioned for a medal of his own after the war was over and eventually received one on February 8, 1870. He died less than three weeks later at the age of 29.

Alexander Kelly from Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, was the other soldier who ran to the rescue of the 6^th USCI’s colors. As Hawkins was helping Edgerton with the regimental colors, Kelly snatched up the national colors. He then “raised them, and rallied the men, at a time of confusion,” according to his citation. Kelly was born on April 7, 1840 and worked as a coal miner before entering the service at Allegheny City on August 19, 1863. He had enlisted as a substitute for his drafted brother, who had a large family to support. Kelly showed great initiative as a soldier and served as the first sergeant of his company at New Market Heights. He lived until 1907.

Interestingly, all of the Medal of Honor recipients from Duncan’s Brigade were born free. Their medals came from courageous actions such as rescuing the colors or taking over for killed and wounded white officers and rallying the survivors of the attack, all telling signs of their difficult assignment.

The citations from Col. Alonzo G. Draper’s Second Brigade, Eighteenth Corps, which made the second attack on the New Market Line that morning, tell a different tale. Draper attacked in column, and the lead regiment in that column was the 5^th USCI.

On September 29, 1864, Powhatan Beaty was making an unpleasant homecoming of sorts. Born into slavery in Richmond in 1837, by the 1850s he was free and resided in Cincinnati. After the Civil War began he enlisted in what would become the 5^th USCI in 1863. He was the first sergeant of Company G at New Market Heights, where his unit, now advancing in daylight, ran into the same battlefield obstacles that slowed their advance and that earlier impeded Duncan’s men as they went forward. As the 5^th USCI came under withering Confederate rifle fire, many of the regimental officers fell killed and wounded. First Sergeant Beaty took command of his company since no white officers remained. Unlike his predecessors, however, Beaty led his men into the earthworks and pushed the Confederate defenders out. Beaty was among those who received their Medals of Honor on April 6, 1865. Beaty moved back to Cincinnati and became a skilled craftsman as well as a renowned Shakespearean actor. He passed away on December 6, 1916.

Born enslaved in Texas in 1844, Milton Holland’s father, Bird Holland, was a white slave owner who would later fight for the Confederacy. Bird Holland freed Milton and his two brothers and sent them to Ohio to receive an education when they were boys. When the Civil War broke out, Holland served as a civilian employee in the Quartermaster Department until he was able to enlist in Co. C of the 5^th USCI. He rose to the rank of first sergeant by early 1864 and received another promotion to sergeant major just before the Battle of New Market Heights. When the 5^th led the second attack, Holland described how “they fought hand to hand with a desperate valor that beggared description.” Milton took command of Company C after all of the officers became casualties and was then wounded himself. He received his medal on April 6, 1865, and lived in Washington D.C. after the war. He died from a heart attack in May of 1910 and rests in peace at Arlington National Cemetery.

Coming up with the 5^th USCI’s Co. I was 1^st Sergeant Robert A. Pinn from Perry Township, Ohio. Born March 1, 1843, Pinn was the sixth of ten children and worked the family farm when not attending school. He enlisted in the 127^th Ohio (later re-designated the 5^th USCI) and was first sergeant of Co. I when they found themselves in the maelstrom of New Market Heights. He bravely led his company through the obstructions and into the New Market Line after all of his superior officers fell killed or wounded. For doing so, he received the Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865. After the war, Pinn became a teacher and principle before studying law. He passed away on January 5, 1911, at the age of 67.

The 5^th USCI’s final recipient was James H. Bronson. Bronson was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in 1838, and recorded as a “mulatto” in census records. He was a barber by trade and was 25 years old when he enlisted on July 4, 1863, in Trumbull County, Ohio. At New Market Heights he took command of Co. D and “gallantly led it” according to his citation. Bronson returned to Ohio and his former trade after the war and married. Sadly, he died on March 18, 1884, at the age of 46. He is buried at Chartiers Cemetery in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.

Just behind the 5^th USCI in Draper’s column was the 36^th USCI, a unit recruited mainly from northeast North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Pvt. James D. Gardiner was with Co. I when the lead unit began to penetrate the Confederate defenses and push the rebels out of their line. The 20-year-old native of Gloucester, Virginia, had spent his pre-war years gathering and selling oysters, but now he earned distinction in a new line of work. Seeing the rebel defenders begin to collapse in the melee of battle, Gardiner broke ranks to charge ahead of his unit. Seeing a Confederate officer on top of the parapet, no doubt trying to rally his troops, Pvt. Gardiner shot the man down and then ran him through with his bayonet for good measure. For risking his life in this daring fashion, he was among those who received the Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865. When Gardiner’s enlistment expired in 1866, he eventually became a missionary for the Catholic Church, living until 1905. He is buried at Calvary Crest Cemetery in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Also going into action with the 36^th USCI was Corp. Miles James from Princess Anne County, Virginia. Corp. James was probably born into slavery. If so, that ended with his enlistment at Fortress Monroe in December 1863, in Co. B, 36^th USCI. While his regiment approached the New Market Line, James learned the hard way that there were still plenty of rebels inside the works willing to put up a fight. James received a wound to his left upper arm about thirty yards away from the line. Nonetheless, James “loaded and discharged his piece with one hand, and urged his men forward.” His wound was “so badly mutilated that immediate amputation was necessary” following the battle. It is little wonder that Col. Draper later called James “one of the bravest men I ever saw.” James received his Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865, and then a disability discharge in October of that year. He died on August 28, 1871 in Norfolk, Virginia. The location of his grave is currently unknown.

Sgt. James H. Harris of Co. B, 38^th USCI was born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, in 1828. He was the oldest of the New Market Heights Medal of Honor recipients. Recruited mainly in Virginia and eastern Maryland, the 38^th USCI enlisted Harris on February 14, 1864. He rose through the ranks quickly and was a sergeant by the time of the battle. Harris’s citation notes that he displayed “gallantry in the assault.” During the battle, he received a grievous wound that required nearly a year’s recovery in the hospital. He stayed in the army until 1867 and received his Medal of Honor four days after his birthday in 1874. Harris lived in Washington, D.C. after his discharge and made a living as a carpenter. He passed away on January 28, 1898, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Company C of the 38^th faced a command crisis when all of the officers became casualties, and First Sergeant Edward Ratcliff did what he was trained to do by taking over and “leading his company with great gallantry” in the words of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler. Ratcliff hailed from James County, Virginia, and was born in 1835. Noted on his enlistment papers as a “laborer,” as were so many other Black soldiers, he signed up in Yorktown on New Year’s Day 1864. Even though the 38^th USCI was bringing up the rear of Draper’s attacking column, according to his citation, Ratliff was credited as being “the first enlisted man to enter the enemy’s works.” He received his Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865, mustered out of the service in Texas in 1867, and returned to Virginia where he became a farmer in York County. He passed away at the age of 80 in 1915.

The ultimate fate of the final New Market Heights Medal of Honor recipient discussed here is particularly sad. William Henry Barnes survived the battle only to die of a common illness, and like Miles James, his individual final resting place is lost to history. Barnes was born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, around 1841, and he enlisted there in February 1864, in Co. C, 38^th USCI. His citation for New Market Heights notes that he was, “among the first to enter the enemy’s works, although wounded.” He lived to receive his Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865, but he tragically died of tuberculosis at Indianola, Texas on Christmas Eve 1866. The next year Barnes’s remains were moved to San Antonio National Cemetery where they were placed in a common grave along with around 300 other bodies from Indianola. A plaque for Barnes memorializes his service and sacrifice at the site of this mass burial.