Hugh Hamilton (sailor)

Hugh Hamilton (born 1836 - December 10, 1890) 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.

Hugh Hamilton
Civil War era Navy Medal of Honor
Born	1836 New York, New York
Died	December 10, 1890 Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
Place of burial	Oak Grove Cemetery, Fall River, Massachusetts
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	Union Navy
Rank	Coxswain
Unit	USS Richmond
Battles/wars	American Civil War • Battle of Mobile Bay
Awards	Medal of Honor

Military service

Hamilton's Medal of Honor, front and back

Born in 1836 in New York City, Hamilton was still living in the state of New York when he joined the Navy. He served during the Civil War as a coxswain on the USS Richmond. At the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, he "performed his duties with skill and courage" despite heavy fire. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor four months later, on December 31, 1864.[1][2]

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1830, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864.

Hamilton's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

On board the U.S.S. Richmond during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Despite damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks, Hamilton performed his duties with skill and courage throughout the prolonged battle which resulted in the surrender of the rebel ram Tennessee and in the successful attacks carried out on Fort Morgan.[2]

Death and burial

Medal of Honor recipient Hugh Hamilton died December 10, 1890 of cerebral apoplexy and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts.[3]

Hamilton's death notice in the December 11, 1890 Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper read:

Sudden Death of a Quarter Gunner on the Minnesota. Hugh Hamilton, quarter gunner on the training ship Minnesota, now living at the navy yard, fell dead of apoplexy on the forward gun deck of the ship at 3:45 P. M. yesterday. He was 53 years old. Assistant Surgeons Harris and Pickrell applied restoratives shortly after Hamilton fell, but without effect. The body of the deceased will be taken to Fall River to-day.

Notes

"Hugh Hamilton". Hall of Valor. Military Times. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
"Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (A–L)". Medal of Honor Citations. United States Army Center of Military History. June 26, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
Hamilton, Hugh. "Findagrave". Findagrave.com.

References

Mahan, CDR USN, Alfred Thayer (1885). The Gulf and Inland Waters. The Navy in the Civil War. III. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. OCLC 166312281.
Matthews, Franklin (1915). Our Navy in Time of War (1861-1915). New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company. OCLC 940844432.
Porter, ADM USN, David Dixon (1886). The Naval History of the Civil War. New York, NY: The Sherman Publishing Company. OCLC 280729.

External links

American Civil War

Origins

Origins	Timeline leading to the War Bleeding Kansas Border states Compromise of 1850 John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Kansas-Nebraska Act Lincoln–Douglas debates Missouri Compromise Nullification crisis Origins of the American Civil War Panic of 1857 Popular sovereignty Secession States' rights President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers
Slavery	African Americans Cornerstone Speech Dred Scott v. Sandford Emancipation Proclamation Fire-Eaters Fugitive slave laws Plantations in the American South Positive good Slave Power Slavery in the United States Treatment of slaves in the United States Uncle Tom's Cabin
Abolitionism	Susan B. Anthony James G. Birney John Brown Frederick Douglass William Lloyd Garrison Lane Debates on Slavery Elijah Parish Lovejoy J. Sella Martin Lysander Spooner George Luther Stearns Thaddeus Stevens Charles Sumner Caning Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad

Combatants
Theaters
Campaigns
Battles
States

Combatants

Union	Army Navy Marine Corps Revenue Cutter Service
Confederacy	Army Navy Marine Corps

Theaters

Major campaigns

Major battles

Involvement
(by state or territory)

Involvement
(cities)

Leaders

Confederate

Military	R. H. Anderson Beauregard Bragg Buchanan Cooper Early Ewell Forrest Gorgas Hill Hood Jackson A. S. Johnston J. E. Johnston Lee Longstreet Morgan Mosby Polk Price Semmes E. K. Smith Stuart Taylor Wheeler
Civilian	Benjamin Bocock Breckinridge Davis Hunter Mallory Memminger Seddon Stephens

Union

Military	Anderson Buell Burnside Butler Du Pont Farragut Foote Frémont Grant Halleck Hooker Hunt McClellan McDowell Meade Meigs Ord Pope D. D. Porter Rosecrans Scott Sheridan Sherman Thomas
Civilian	Adams Chase Ericsson Hamlin Lincoln Pinkerton Seward Stanton Stevens Wade Welles

Aftermath

Constitution	Reconstruction Amendments 13th Amendment 14th Amendment 15th Amendment
Reconstruction	Alabama Claims Brooks–Baxter War Carpetbaggers Colfax riot of 1873 Compromise of 1877 Confederate refugees Confederados Eufaula riot of 1874 Freedmen's Bureau Freedman's Savings Bank Homestead Acts Southern Homestead Act of 1866 Timber Culture Act of 1873 Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Kirk–Holden war Knights of the White Camelia Ku Klux Klan Ethnic violence Memphis riots of 1866 Meridian riot of 1871 New Orleans riot of 1866 Pulaski (Tennessee) riot of 1867 South Carolina riots of 1876 Reconstruction acts Habeas Corpus Act 1867 Enforcement Act of 1870 Enforcement Act of February 1871 Enforcement Act of April 1871 Reconstruction era Reconstruction Treaties Indian Council at Fort Smith Red Shirts Redeemers Scalawags South Carolina riots of 1876 Southern Claims Commission White League
Post- Reconstruction	Commemoration Centennial Civil War Discovery Trail Civil War Roundtables Civil War Trails Program Civil War Trust Confederate History Month Confederate Memorial Day Historical reenactment Robert E. Lee Day Confederate Memorial Hall Disenfranchisement Black Codes Jim Crow Historiographic issues Lost Cause mythology Modern display of the Confederate flag Red Shirts Sons of Confederate Veterans Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Southern Historical Society United Confederate Veterans United Daughters of the Confederacy Children of the Confederacy Wilmington insurrection of 1898
Monuments and memorials	Union: List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials List of memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic Memorials to Abraham Lincoln Confederate: Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol List of Confederate monuments and memorials Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials List of memorials to Robert E. Lee List of memorials to Jefferson Davis
Cemeteries	Confederate Memorial Day Ladies' Memorial Associations U.S. Memorial Day U.S. national cemeteries
Veterans	1913 Gettysburg reunion 1938 Gettysburg reunion Confederate Memorial Hall Confederate Veteran Grand Army of the Republic Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Old soldiers' homes Southern Cross of Honor United Confederate Veterans

Related topics

Military	Arms Campaign Medal Cavalry Confederate Home Guard Confederate railroads Confederate revolving cannon Field artillery Medal of Honor recipients Medicine Leadership Naval battles Official Records Partisan rangers POW camps Rations Signal Corps Turning point Union corps badges U.S. Balloon Corps U.S. Home Guard U.S. Military Railroad
Political	Committee on the Conduct of the War Confederate States presidential election of 1861 Confiscation Act of 1861 Confiscation Act of 1862 Copperheads Emancipation Proclamation Habeas Corpus Act of 1863 Hampton Roads Conference National Union Party Radical Republicans Trent Affair Union Leagues U.S. Presidential Election of 1864 War Democrats
Music	Battle Hymn of the Republic Dixie John Brown's Body A Lincoln Portrait Marching Through Georgia Maryland, My Maryland When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Other topics	Baltimore riot of 1861 Bibliography Confederate war finance Confederate States dollar Espionage Confederate Secret Service Great Revival of 1863 Naming the war Native Americans Cherokee Choctaw New York City Gold Hoax of 1864 New York City riots of 1863 Photographers Richmond riots of 1863 Sexuality Supreme Court cases Tokens U.S. Sanitary Commission

Category
Portal

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.