How Did You Spend Your 4th of July? – Part 1

As we celebrate another Independence Day that finds the nation at war, let’s take a look at some men who, when asked by their children, “What did you do in the war, Daddy?” were able to say they did far more than shovel manure in Louisiana. They earned Medals of Honor, and did so on the 4^th of July. Sadly, not all of them would be able to hear their children ask the question.

The first Medals awarded for actions on the 4^th were earned in Civil War on July 4, 1863. One was earned at the battle of Monterey Mountain, when Kilpatrick’s cavalry harried Imboden’s retreating Confederates, savaging a supply convoy. The second was earned at the siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana. Here are the citations, which are pretty sparse, as was usual for the time:

CAPEHART, CHARLES E.

Rank and organization: Major, 1st West Virginia Cavalry. Place and date: At Monterey Mountain, Pa., 4 July 1863. Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Born: 1883, Conemaugh Township, Cambria County, Pa. Date of issue: 7 April 1898. Citation: While commanding the regiment, charged down the mountain side at midnight, in a heavy rain, upon the enemy’s fleeing wagon train. Many wagons were captured and destroyed and many prisoners taken.

HANNA, MARCUS A.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 50th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Port Hudson, La., 4 July 1863. Entered service at: Rockport, Mass. Born: 3 November 1842, Bristol, Maine. Date of issue: 2 November 1895. Citation: Voluntarily exposed himself to a heavy fire to get water for comrades in rifle pits.

The next Medals from the 4^th were for actions during the Philippine Insurrection and the fighting at Patian Island.

KENNEDY, JOHN T.

Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Patian Island, Philippine Islands, 4 July 1909. Entered service at: Orangeburg, S.C. Birth: Hendersonville, S.C. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: While in action against hostile Moros, he entered with a few enlisted men the mouth of a cave occupied by a desperate enemy, this act having been ordered after he had volunteered several times. In this action 2d Lt. Kennedy was severely wounded.

WILSON, ARTHUR H.

Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Patian Island, Philippine Islands, 4 July 1909. Entered service at: Springfield, Ill. Birth: Springfield, Ill. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: While in action against hostile Moros, when, it being necessary to secure a mountain gun in position by rope and tackle, voluntarily with the assistance of an enlisted man, carried the rope forward and fastened it, being all the time under heavy fire of the enemy at short range.

Now we turn to World War I. There was only one Medal awarded for actions on the 4^th during WWI, and it occurred during an interesting little fight where the US troops were fighting at the direction of an Australian commander, General Sir John Monash. General Monash was a man well ahead of many of his British general officer contemporaries. He was a strong advocate of combined arms operations:

The true role of infantry is not to expend itself upon heroic physical effort, not to wither away under merciless machine-gun fire, not to impale itself on hostile bayonets, but on the contrary, to advance under the maximum possible protection of the maximum possible array of mechanical resources, in the form of guns, machine-guns, tanks, mortars and aeroplanes; to advance with as little impediment as possible; to be relieved as far as possible of the obligation to fight their way forward.

Monash was rather like Field Marshal Montgomery – the higher he advanced, the more effective he was. The Battle of Hamel was a combined-arms fight that matched the 4th, 6th and 11th Australian Brigades together with four companies from the US 131st and 132nd Infantry Regiments, further supported by tanks and RAF aircraft. This force attacked south of the Somme, capturing all their objectives along the high ground east and south east of Hamel. The battle was over in 90 minutes and was a quintessential expression of Monash’s philosophy of combat. And in a nice touch for today, Monash is reputed to have chosen the date for the attack in honor of the US troops integrated into his command. Corporal Thomas Pope repaid the General with this performance:

POPE, THOMAS A.

Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company E, 131st Infantry, 33d Division. Place and date: At Hamel, France, 4 July 1918. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Chicago, Ill. G.O. No.: 44, W.D., 1919. Citation: His company was advancing behind the tanks when it was halted by hostile machine-gun fire. Going forward alone, he rushed a machine-gun nest, killed several of the crew with his bayonet, and, standing astride his gun, held off the others until reinforcements arrived and captured them.

We’ll take a break at this point, and in a second post, we’ll cover the Medals awarded from WWII to the present. If you are interested in a brief history of the Medal of Honor, click here and visit my personal blog, Castle Argghhh!