The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 3-25-2015

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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 3-25-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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The First Medals of Honor
At Risk of Life Beyond Call of Duty

By Mark Alexander

Mar. 25, 2015

    “There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” –Alexander Hamilton (1775)

This year will mark more than 1,000 weeks that The Patriot Post1 has been publishing online – longer than any other journal of news, policy and opinion on the Web. For me personally, that means I am approaching my 1,000th essay on Liberty2 and the evolving threats impeding its extension to the next generation.

Occasionally, the weekday my work is published coincides with a national day of recognition, which allows a pause from the tedious task of analyzing and illuminating the constant assault by “enemies, foreign and domestic” upon our Constitution, which, like many of our Patriot readers, I have sworn “to Support and Defend3.” On those days I focus on some of the many things that make our Republic the greatest example of “endowed freedom4” in the history of mankind.

Today, March 25th, is National Medal of Honor Day. As such, it provides an opportunity to step back and recognize generations of fellow Patriots whose service to our nation has been distinguished through extraordinary heroism and sacrifice.

It was on this date in 1863 that the first Medals of Honor, our nation’s highest military award, were conferred upon a small group of worthy recipients – the men known as “Andrews' Raiders5.” Their valorous acts were immortalized in print and film as “The Great Locomotive Chase6.”

There has been a succession of military medals for meritorious service, beginning with George Washington’s7 Badge of Military Merit in 1782, which was scarcely awarded but familiar because it features a purple heart. Washington’s award was revived as the Purple Heart, including his likeness on the obverse and “For Military Merit” on the reverse. Some 2,450,000 Purple Hearts have been awarded for those wounded or killed in action on or after April 5, 1917.

Side Bar: I must note that this sobering total includes three medals dubiously claimed by John Kerry8 for injuries that would hardly merit a Band-Aid. Here is how Purple Hearts are really earned9 – but I digress.

In 1847, a Certificate of Merit was established to recognize meritorious service by veterans of the Mexican-American War, but at the onset of the War Between the States there was no official medal for merit or valor. That conflict would prove to be the bloodiest in U.S. history, with an estimated 625,000 deaths as compared to 405,000 deaths in our second most lethal conflict, World War II.

There are varied opinions about Abraham Lincoln’s legacy10 as the “Great Emancipator” and the errant assertion that his motive in war was anything other than “preserving the union,” but there is no question that there were many combatants on both sides of the War Between the States, common men, whose valor was unquestionable.

In 1861, Lincoln signed authorization for the Union’s Navy Medal of Valor, followed in 1862 by the Union Army version. That same year, the Confederate States established its Southern Cross of Honor, but the CSA award was not conferred solely for demonstrating acts of extraordinary valor. Unfortunately, by the end of the war, Union medals were similarly distributed, some simply for re-enlisting, as was the case with the 27th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. (Such medal awards would later be rescinded.)

But the first Medals of Honor awarded in 1863 for actions in 1862 certainly reflected bravery and valor, and the actions in question took place just south of my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In 1862, Chattanooga was, as it is today, “The Gateway to the Deep South.” At that time, it was a pivotal rail and river supply center, and disabling Chattanooga as such was a major strategic objective for Lincoln’s forces.

In April of 1862, prior to the Chattanooga Campaign of November 1863 when Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, civilian scout James Andrews and his Union Raiders undertook a daring mission to disable the critical rail lines between Chattanooga and Atlanta. The mission’s 22 enlisted Union volunteers knew undertaking a military action in civilian clothes meant that, if they were caught, they would be subject to hanging as spies.

On April 12, 1862, Andrews, a civilian, and his Raiders commandeered a locomotive, “The General,” in Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), Georgia, and drove it north toward Chattanooga. Their objective was to do significant damage to the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga – tearing up rails, burning bridges and severing telegraph lines.

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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 3-25-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Once their ruse was discovered, they were hotly and doggedly pursued by the train’s engineer, Jeff Cain, and two of his crew, Anthony Murphy and William Fuller.

Just south of Chattanooga, The General ran out of fuel and Andrews' Raiders abandoned the train and headed for the hills. But, within two weeks, all of the Raiders were captured and held in the Swims Jail in Chattanooga, where they were charged with “acts of unlawful belligerency,” while the civilians, including Andrews, were charged as spies. They were all tried and convicted in military courts. Andrews was executed on June 7, 1862 in Atlanta. Seven additional Raiders were also hanged there.

After the War, the bodies of six Raiders, along with Andrews and his civilian guide, William Campbell, were exhumed and reburied near the entrance to Chattanooga’s National Cemetery, and a prominent monument was erected at the cemetery entrance in their honor.

Ultimately, 19 of the 24 Raiders were awarded the Medal of Honor, though Andrews and his civilian scout were not eligible as civilians.

As noted previously, by the end of the War Between the States, there were no clear standards for Union awards. In fact, 29 members of Lincoln’s funeral detail received Medals of Honor.

Consequently, in 1917 the Army Medal of Honor Review Board rescinded 911 medals from the rolls. An act of Congress on July 9, 1918 established revised standards for the Medal of Honor, noting that a recipient must “distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” and that the act of valor be performed “in action involving actual conflict with an enemy.” 
Of course, the Medals for Andrews' Raiders met that standard.

Since 1989, the history of Andrews' Raiders and related artifacts have been preserved by the National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History11, which will soon be reborn as the Medal of Honor Heritage Center at a new location near Chattanooga’s revitalized Tennessee River waterfront. That location will provide access to hundreds of thousands of visitors who can learn about the first 19 Medals of Honor and the recipients of the 3,474 Medals12 earned and awarded since.

Notably, only 79 recipients, American Patriots who have demonstrated “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” are living today. That list includes my friend and Chattanooga native Charles H. Coolidge13.

Of the ten Medal of Honor recipients I have known, not one of these humble men would ever self-identify as a hero. However, all were quick to note they were in the company of heroes during those actions for which they were decorated. They represent the best of our countrymen, the true spirit of love for others above self – the finest order of Patriots.

At the onset of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.”

I invite you to honor these gallant men and all those who endeavor to defend Liberty for the next generation.

I have the humble privilege of serving on the National Advisory Board for the Medal of Honor Museum and highly commend your support for the establishment of our new Medal of Honor Heritage Center. If you would like more information or to support the new Medal of Honor Heritage Center, please contact the administrator of the Patriot Foundation Trust14.

And a final note on Chattanooga’s Medal of Honor Heritage: The only woman to receive a Medal of Honor is Dr. Mary Walker, who, as the Army’s first female surgeon, served with valor in both the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns. Chattanooga, incidentally, is also home of the Chickamauga & Chattooga National Military Park15, the nation’s first and largest Military Park.

PS: Because the Medal of Honor is presented “in the name of Congress,” it is often erroneously referred to as the “Congressional” Medal of Honor. However, it should be noted by its official name, the “Medal of Honor16.” The MoH is earned, never “won.” To read more about the Valor medals, click here17.

Pro Deo et Constitutione – Libertas aut Mors
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis


Links

1    http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new
2    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/7324
3    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/3192
4    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/33261
5    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Locomotive_Chase
6    http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1159
7    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/12704
8    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/3072
9    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/3041
10    http://patriotpost.us/alexander/3181
11    http://www.mohm.org
12    http://www.history.army.mil/moh/
13    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Coolidge#Medal_of_Honor_citation
14    http://patriotfoundationtrust.org
15    http://www.nps.gov/chch/index.htm
16    http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2002-title32-vol3/html/CFR-2002-title32-vol3-sec578-4.htm
17    http://valor.defense.gov