Coal Heaver Thomas O'Connell, a sailor in the U.S. Navy, received the Medal of Honor for gallantry on August 5, 1864 at Mobile Bay, Alabama during the Civil War. At the time he was serving with U.S.S. Hartford. O'Connell was about 22 years old.
97 other service members also received the Medal of Honor for actions on the same day.
O'Connell was born in 1842 in Ireland — one of 258 recipients born in Ireland. His Medal of Honor is credited to New York, New York. O'Connell died on August 29, 1899 in Whitefield, Maine, at the age of about 57. He is buried at Resthaven Cemetery in Windsor, Maine.
O'Connell is one of 1,525 Medal of Honor recipients from the Civil War and one of 678 credited to New York.
Official Medal of Honor citation
On board the flagship U.S.S. Hartford, during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats, and the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Although a patient in the sick bay, O'Connell voluntarily reported at his station at the shell whip and continued to perform his duties with zeal and courage until his right hand was severed by an enemy shellburst.
Citation text: U.S. Government, public domain.
Wounds and injuries
What the citation records about his wounds:
Although a patient in the sick bay, O'Connell voluntarily reported at his station at the shell whip and continued to perform his duties with zeal and courage until his right hand was severed by an enemy shellburst.
- Age at death: about 57
- Resting place: Resthaven Cemetery
Battles and campaigns
Also served in: American Civil War.
Places
Veteran resources, cemeteries and meeting places in New York →
Timeline
- 1842Born in Ireland
- August 5, 1864Act of valor — Mobile Bay, AlabamaAge about 22. U.S.S. Hartford
- August 29, 1899Died in Whitefield, MaineAge about 57.
- Resting placeResthaven CemeteryWindsor, Maine
Biography
Thomas O'Connell (c. 1842 – 29 August 1899) was a Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Mobile Bay. Born in about 1842 in Ireland, O'Connell immigrated to the United States and was living in New York when he joined the U.S. Navy. He served during the Civil War as a coal heaver on Admiral David Farragut's flagship, the USS Hartford. At the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, he manned the shell whip (a device used to lift ammunition up to the gun deck) despite being ill, until losing his right hand to a Confederate artillery shell.
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