Alonzo H Cushing

Epitaph

Description

**ALONZO...Civil War casualty. (A photo of Alonzo can be seen at findagrave website). Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Lieutenant Cushing was finally given a field assignment, being appointed to command Battery A, 4th United States Regular Artillery, a unit that was made up in large part from men who transferred from volunteer infantry regiments. He implemented training and drill, and his battery was praised for it’s disciplined performance. During the May 1863 Chancellorsville Campaign the unit occupied several positions, but was not heavily engaged in the battle. He led his men in the march towards Gettysburg in May and June, 1863 as the Army of the Potomac followed the Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee as it took the war to the north and invaded Pennsylvania. On July 2, 1863, the Second Day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Lieutenant Cushing’s battery was placed on Cemetery Ridge near what became known as the “Copse of Trees”, and was in that position when on July 3, 1863 a tremendous barrage of Confederate artillery opened up on the Union forces on the ridge. The cannonade, which was the pre-curser to the famous “Pickett’s Charge”, mortally wounded Lieutenant Cushing’s second-in-command, knocked out a number of men and horses, two of his artillery pieces, and left him with a severe shoulder wound from a shell fragment. Losing blood, he refused to leave the field, and directed his men as they fought furiously to repel the attacking Confederate wave. Weak from a second wound that tore his stomach open, he was held up by Sergeant Frederick Fuger as he passed on his commands. He was then killed by a final gunshot that passed through his mouth and out the back of his head. He was lain to the ground by Sergeant Fuger, who took command of the battery as it helped finish off the repulse of the attacking Confederates (Frederick Fuger would be awarded the Medal of Honor in 1897 for his bravery that day). After the battle ended Lieutenant Cushing’s remains were transported to his alma mater, and he was buried in the Post Cemetery. Posthumously brevetted to Lieutenant Colonel, US Regular Army, Alonzo Cushing’s monument on his grave would bear the inscription “Faithful Unto Death” by the request of his mother. On November 6, 2014 he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor after a 25 year campaign by historians to see his bravery during the Battle of Gettysburg be recognized with the Nation’s highest military honor.