APPLICANT REQUESTS:  And acting on behalf of the great-great grand niece of the former service member (FSM), that the FSM be awarded the Medal of Honor.

APPLICANT STATES:  In effect, that the FSM’s actions should be considered under the Medal of Honor standards in effect during the Civil War and not under today’s standards.

EVIDENCE OF RECORD:  The FSM’s military records are not available.  Information herein was obtained from alternate sources.

In the fall of 1861, General McClellan, then commander-in-chief of the Union army, with others in authority, stipulated with certain prominent Union men who were then refugees from East Tennessee for the burning of all the railroad bridges between the Virginia line and Chattagnooga.  On its part, the Government pledged itself to follow the burning of the bridges by the immediate occupation of the country with the forces then in Kentucky on the Tennessee border and under the command of General George H. Thomas, thus protecting its agents in this work.  The reason for the bridge destruction was an attempt to cut Confederate supply and communication lines between Richmond and the deep South.

In November 1861, the FSM, along with others, volunteered for U.S. service in the 2d Tennessee Volunteers to carry out this order.  On the night of                   6 November 1861, the FSM and four other soldiers burned the railroad bridge of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad across Lick Creek in Greene County, Tennessee.

The Government failed to carry out its pledge to immediately invade East Tennessee.  As a consequence, the jails and prisons all along the line of railroad were filled with Union men charged with bridge-burning.  Five of the Lick Creek railroad bridge-burners were arrested, to include the FSM and two of his sons.

Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary of War, publicly issued and printed the following order:  “That all those implicated in burning the bridges should be tried by drum-head court-martial, and, if found guilty, publicly hanged in the vicinity of the burned bridges; and that their bodies should be left hanging for several days as a warning to the Union men of East Tennessee.”

The FSM and his sons were accordingly tried by a rebel court-martial, convicted, and the FSM and one son hung till dead, near the town of Knoxville, Tennessee on 17 December 1861 (the other son having died of disease while in prison).

The Medal of Honor, established by a Joint Resolution of Congress on 12 July 1862, authorized the Medal to “…be presented, in the name of Congress, to such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection…”  The law was amended on 3 March 1863 to extend its provisions to include officers.

Many awards for service during the Civil War were made based only upon application of the recipient.  On 3 June 1916, the Congress directed the Secretary of War to appoint a board of five retired general officers for the purpose of “investigating and reporting on past awards of issue of the so-called Congressional Medal of Honor…and in any case in which said board shall find and report that said medal was issued for any cause other than distinguished conduct involving actual conflict with an enemy, the name of the recipient of the medal so issued shall be stricken permanently from the official Medal of  Honor list…”

The board concluded its review on 15 February 1917 and had stricken             911 names from the list.  In its final report, the board indicated that in the large majority of cases “the medals have been awarded for distinguished conduct in action, measuring that term by the highest standard, and there can be no question as to the propriety of the award.”  In some cases, the board reported the rewards the men received were “greater than would now be given for the same acts,” but in the absence of evidence to the contrary, “and because there has been no high judicial interpretation of the Medal of Honor laws,” the board found that there were “but few instances where the medal has not been awarded for distinguished services.”

World War I brought additional recognition of the need for clarification of the criteria for the Medal of Honor.  The Congressional Act of 9 July 1918 laid down the criteria which is in effect today and which reflects the criteria the 1916 board used to strike 911 names from the Medal of Honor list.  That Act provided that “the President may award, and present in the name of Congress, a Medal of Honor to a person who, while a member of the Army and in action involving actual conflict with an enemy, distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”

On 12 January, 16 March and 7 May 1998 the Army Decorations Board reviewed the Medal of Honor recommendation, in its entirety, and determined that the actions taken by this individual and others did not meet the criteria for an award of the Medal of Honor.

DISCUSSION:  Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:

1.  In order to justify correction of a military record the applicant must show to the satisfaction of the Board, or it must otherwise satisfactorily appear, that the record is in error or unjust.  The applicant has failed to submit evidence that would satisfy the aforementioned requirement.

2.  The criteria for award of the Medal of Honor during the Civil War was quite relaxed compared to today’s criteria; however, as long ago as 1916 Congress took steps to remedy this deficiency.  A special board was appointed to investigate and report on past awards of the Medal of Honor.  If it found that an award was issued for any cause other than distinguished conduct involving actual conflict with an enemy, the recipient’s name was to be permanently stricken from the official Medal of Honor list.  At that time, 911 names of soldiers who clearly failed to meet that criteria were stricken from the Medal of Honor list. Since that time, only five individuals have had their medal reinstated.

3.  On 9 July 1918, an act of Congress made this new criteria official.

4.  This Board does not question the dedication, patriotism and loyalty to the Union shown by the FSM.  He volunteered for service in the Union Army while he was still a resident of a Confederate state, for a dangerous mission to be accomplished within that state.  He successfully completed that mission, for which he was later tried and publicly hanged by the Confederate authorities.

5.  The applicant does not claim that the FSM was involved in actual conflict with the enemy.  The terms used to describe the unfortunate immediate consequences of the Government’s failure to invade East Tennessee; i.e., “…bridge-burners were arrested…,” …”residing in the vicinity where the Lick Creek bridge was burned, were thrown into prison…,” tends to show the FSM was taken into custody by authority of the law (“arrested”) and not taken by force or surprise, as enemy troops (“captured”).

6.  The Government has now had a long-standing commitment to ensure the Medal of Honor is awarded only to those soldiers involved in actual conflict with an enemy.  It has an 80-year old precedent to ensure this criteria is applied retroactively.

7.  In view of the foregoing, there is no basis for granting the applicant’s request.

DETERMINATION:  The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.

BOARD VOTE:

                       GRANT          

                       GRANT FORMAL HEARING

                       DENY APPLICATION

						Loren G. Harrell
						Director