Lieutenant William Barker Cushing received the thanks of the Navy Department and the thanks of the United States Congress for leading the expedition that successfully sank the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle on October 28, 1864. He was also promoted one grade from lieutenant to lieutenant commander. There were fourteen officers and enlisted men that accompanied Cushing in Picket Boat No. 1, including:
Acting Asst. Paymaster Francis H. Swan, USS Otsego (captured)
Acting Ensign William L. Howarth, USS Monticello (captured)
Acting Master's Mate John Woodman, USS Commodore Hull (drowned)
Acting Master's Mate Thomas S. Gay, USS Otsego (captured)
Acting 3rd Asst. Engineer William Stotesbury, US Picket Boat No. 1 (captured)
Acting 3rd Asst. Engineer Charles L. Steever, USS Ostego (captured)
First Class Fireman Samuel Higgins, US Picket Boat No. 1 (drowned)
Coal Heaver, Richard Hamilton, USS Shamrock (captured)
Ordinary Seaman Bernard Harley, USS Chicopee (captured)
Ordinary Seaman Edward J. Houghton, USS Chicopee (escaped)
Ordinary Seaman, William Smith, (Daniel G. George), USS Chicopee (captured)
Landsman, Lorenzo Deming, US Picket Boat No. 1 (captured)
Landsman, Henry Wilkes, US Picket Boat No. 1 (captured)
Landsman Robert H. King, US Picket Boat No. 1 (captured)
Cushing and Edward J. Houghton escaped. Samuel Higgins and John Woodman drowned. Their bodies were recovered and taken to New Bern, North Carolina for burial in what is now New Bern National Cemetery. The remaining eleven men were captured and sent to a number of Confederate POW camp, including Salisbury and Danville, North Carolina and Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia before being paroled on February 21, 1865.
The seven enlisted men of Cushing's crew, that survived, would ultimately be awarded the Medal of Honor. Their citations read as follows:
[This recipient] "served on board the US Picket Boat No. 1, in action, 27 October 1864, against the Confederate ram, Albemarle, which had resisted repeated attacks by our steamers and had kept a large force of vessels employed in watching her. The picket boat, equipped with a spar torpedo, succeeded in passing the enemy pickets within 20 yards without being discovered and then made for the Albemarle under a full head of steam. Immediately taken under fire by the ram, the small boat plunged on, jumped the log boom which encircled the target, and exploded its torpedo under the port bow of the ram. The picket boat was destroyed by enemy fire and almost the entire crew taken prisoner or lost."
Five of the recipients including Richard Hamilton, Bernard Harley, William Smith, Henry Wilkes and Robert H. King would receive their medals from Commodore Montgomery in a ceremony at the Naval Yard in Washington D.C., on March 15, 1865. The March 16, 1865 Philadelphia Inquirer, reported, "The medals [were] prepared by the Navy Department. Each medal was accompanied by a letter from the Secretary saying it was awarded for gallant and meritorious conduct."
Naval officers were not able to receive the Medal of Honor until 1915, however the five officers present with Cushing were advanced one grade for "conspicuous gallantry."
All the participants would receive a share of the prize money awarded for the destruction of the ram.
Following are the stories of the Medal of Honor Recipients.
Richard Hamilton
Richard Hamilton, a coal heaver on the Shamrock, in October 1864, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania January 23, 1836. He was the eldest of six children, five sons and a daughter, born to George and Emma Hamilton prior to George's death in 1856. Richard was employed as a cooper when he enlisted as a private in Company H, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on April 18, 1861. The company was mustered in on April 25th. The regiment spent time in Maryland and western Virginia prior to mustering out after three months on August 2, 1861.
On February 23, 1864, Richard enlisted in the United States Navy for one year. He was twenty-eight years old, stood five feet seven and one-half inches tall, had blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion. Hamilton served on the USS North Carolina from February 23 to June 13, 1864. On the 14th he transferred to the Shamrock. Richard was captured at Plymouth, North Carolina, October 28, 1864, and was paroled March 10, 1865, at Cox's Wharf on the James River in Virginia. He was discharged from the navy March 20th.
Richard Hamilton married Mary Jane Nugent July 3, 1856, in Philadelphia. The 1880 Federal Census shows Richard living in Camden New Jersey with his wife Mary and a son George A. Hamilton age 9. Richard worked as a cooper.
Hamilton died of paralysis July 6, 1881, in Camden New Jersey. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Camden.
Bernard Harley
Bernard Harley, an ordinary seaman on the Chicopee, in October 1864, was born November 14, 1842, in Brooklyn, New York's Ninth Ward. He was the second to youngest son of Irish immigrants Hugh and Ann (Boyle) Harley. In the 1860 Federal Census Hugh, Sr was listed as an oil cloth maker. Seventeen year old Bernard and his younger brother Hugh were employed as paper stainers, a printer who patterned wall paper.
On October 19, 1860, Bernard enlisted in the United States Navy as a First Class Cabin Boy for three years. At the time of his enlistment he was eighteen years old, stood five feet three inches tall, had grey eyes, light hair and a light complexion. He must have been discharged in the fall of 1863 because he enlisted as a private in Company F, 84th New York Volunteer Infantry for three years on December 8th. He was mustered in on December 13th. The roster of the 84th New York notes Bernard transferred to the Navy on April 26, 1864. Enlistment record's for the navy show Bernard re-enlisting in New York on May 5, 1864, for 2.75 years. Bernard's occupation is listed as sailor in the naval records.
After being paroled, Bernard rejoined the navy. At some point he was assigned to the USS Delaware prior to being discharged from the navy on August 3, 1865.
After being discharged Bernard returned to Brooklyn. On July 26, 2874, he married Annie Sutton. Bernard was employed as a laborer at the New York Naval yard at the time of his death from Bright's Disease on Friday January 15, 1886. he was buried on January 17, 1886, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
to be continued.
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