Sgt. William Harvey Carney
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Sgt. William H. Carney was the first African American to be awarded
the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Carney served with the 54th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry and took part in the July 18, 1863 assault on Fort
Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his medal for
saving the American flag and planting it on the parapet and holding
it while the troops charged. He was wounded four times, but returned
the flag to the lines, saying, "Boys, the old flag never touched the
ground!"
With the primitive communications of that time, the flag was an
important visual contact for troops and many Civil War medals were
awarded for protecting and displaying the flag under fire.
The attack on Fort Wagner is depicted in the film Glory. Carney's
face is shown on the monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th on
the Boston Common designed by Augustus Saint Gaudens. In later life,
Carney was a postal employee and popular speaker at patriotic events.
Carney was born a slave but escaped to Massachusetts with his father
through the Underground Railroad. They were able later to buy the
rest of the family out of slavery. Carney spent his early life as a
sailor.
Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor May 23, 1900, nearly 40 years
later. More than half such awards from the Civil War were presented
20 or more years late. Although other African Americans had been
awarded the Medal of Honor prior to Carney, his was the first action
by any African American to merit the award.
There is an elementary school named in his honor in New Bedford,
Massachusetts today.
