• About the Medal of Honor and Ohio Recipients
• Design of the Medal of Honor
• For Conspicuous Gallantry: Stories of Ohio's Medal of Honor Recipients
• Related Sites

Conclusion

The battle flag played an integral role on the Civil War battlefield. There was no greater honor to the Civil War soldier than to carry his unit's colors into battle. Soldier after soldier humbly accepted this honor, despite knowing that it would place him at extreme risk. If the color bearer went down in a battle, another soldier would quickly pick up the colors and fight on.

The stories of soldiers risking their lives to protect their own unit's flags and of attempts to capture the enemy's flags are too numerous to tell. However, the stories of Carmen, Walker, and Gywnne are representative of the risks an individual would take to save a flag. For his courageous efforts at the Siege of Petersburg, Gywnne received the Medal of Honor on January 27, 1865. In 1895, thirty years after the end of the Civil War, Carmen and Walker received their Medals of Honor. Carmen saved the 48th O.V.I.'s flag and also seized a shell with a burning fuse from amongst his comrades and threw it away. Walker saved his unit's flag, captured a Confederate flag, and helped to capture a Confederate battery. These heroic acts exemplify the reverence of soldiers for battle flags and the extreme length soldiers would go to protect them.

About the Author
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melissa Wiford is a member of the Archives Library Museum Access (ALMA) team, which was responsible for the Ohio Battle Flag digitization and cataloging project. She received her bachelor's degrees in history, women's studies, and sociology from The Ohio State University.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  Bibliography