Civil War: Medal of Honor Recipients

The Medal of Honor was born in the Civil War. Congress authorized a Navy medal in December 1861 and an Army medal in July 1862, and on March 25, 1863 Private Jacob Parrott — one of Andrews’ Raiders, who hijacked a Confederate locomotive in Georgia — became the first man to receive it. That date is now observed as National Medal of Honor Day.

No war has produced more Medals of Honor. Standards were looser than today’s, and many citations are a single line such as “Capture of flag,” because seizing an enemy regiment’s colors was among the most conspicuous acts of courage on a 19th-century battlefield. In 1917 an Army review board struck 911 names from the rolls — most of them members of the 27th Maine Infantry who had been rewarded for re-enlisting rather than for valor in combat.