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Corporal Isaac H. Carmen

Portrait of Isaac H. Carmen, Corporal, Co. A, 48th Ohio Infantry. From Deeds of Valor, v. 1, p. 201.

One of the units participating in the assault of Vicksburg was the 48th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.) under the brigade command of Colonel William J. Landrum. As the guns quieted, the 48th rushed forward with the other infantry units of the 2nd Brigade. Soon after the first assault, the 48th Ohio, along with the 77th Illinois, captured a fort and a number of Confederate prisoners. After the capture, the colors of the 48th O.V.I. and the 77th Illinois were planted on the fort.

Illustration of Carmen's saving flag, caption: "I seized it too soon." From Deeds of Valor, v.1, p. 202.

The planting of the Union flags gained the immediate attention of the Confederate batteries. As shells continued to fall, Corporal Isaac H. Carmen (also spelled Carman) was pinned down near the top of the works, close to the flags. Unfixing his bayonet, he dug in. Soon after, a soldier from the 77th Illinois crawled into a shell crater at Carmen’s feet. Working as a team, Carmen continued firing at the Confederate works as the Illinois man reloaded their weapons.

After a few hours, the two soldiers could hear the voices of Confederate soldiers massing directly across from the flags. Recognizing the danger the colors were now in, Carmen ran back under enemy fire to gain permission to remove them from the top of the works. After gaining permission to remove the flags, Carmen reached the 48th O.V.I. flag just in time. As Carmen reached for the flag, the Confederates launched a counterattack.

Battle monument of the 48th O.V.I. at Vicksburg. From Ohio at Vicksburg: Report of the Ohio Vicksburg Battlefield Commission, p. 104-105.

The flag of the 77th Illinois could not be saved. Clutching the flag of the 48th, Carmen ran a hundred feet under enemy fire to reach the other members of his regiment. As Carmen later recounted, “How I got down and paced the hundred feet to our ditch, through all that fire, I cannot tell. In my great haste I ran right into the bayonet of one of my own company, who was then in charging position, driving its entire length into my leg and thigh.” Almost fainting, Carmen planted the flag in the dirt, as members of the 48th pulled him to safety. Although severely injured, Carmen saved the flag.

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