Coxswain William W. Halstead was a sailor in the U.S. Navy who received the Medal of Honor for his actions on August 5, 1864 at Mobile Bay, Alabama during the Civil War. At the time he was serving with U.S.S. Brooklyn. Halstead was 27 years old.
97 other service members also received the Medal of Honor for actions on the same day.
Halstead was born on January 9, 1837 in Manilus, Schenectady County, New York. His Medal of Honor is credited to New York. Halstead died on July 23, 1916 in Toledo, Ohio, at the age of 79. He is buried at Forest Cemetery in Toledo, Ohio.
Halstead 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 U.S.S. Brooklyn during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee, in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Despite severe damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks from stem to stern, Halstead fought his gun with skill and courage throughout the furious battle which resulted in the surrender of the prize rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.
Citation text: U.S. Government, public domain.
Battles and campaigns
Also served in: American Civil War.
Life beyond the battlefield
- Occupations: coxswain
Source: Wikidata.
Places
Veteran resources, cemeteries and meeting places in New York →
Timeline
- January 9, 1837Born in Manilus, Schenectady County, New York
- August 5, 1864Act of valor — Mobile Bay, AlabamaAge 27. U.S.S. Brooklyn
- July 23, 1916Died in Toledo, OhioAge 79.
- Resting placeForest CemeteryToledo, Ohio
Biography
William Halstead (February 9, 1837 – July 25, 1916) 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 on January 9, 1837, in Schroeppel, New York, Halstead began his seafaring career as a young man. He first worked on whaling ships out of the Pacific Northwest, then sailed the Pacific as a merchant mariner. Halstead joined the U.S. Navy from his home state of New York and served over two years on the USS Dale, suppressing the slave trade off the coast of Africa in the 1850s.
From the Wikipedia article “William Halstead (sailor)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article →