REWARDED TWICE1
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First Lieutenant Thomas W. Custer, of Company B, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, distinguished himself at Namozine Church, April 2d [sic, April 3rd], and at Sailor’s Creek, Va., April 6th, by the capture of a battle-flag at each place.
At Sailor’s Creek Lieutenant Custer leaped his horse over the enemy’s line of works and fearlessly dashed up to the rebel colors. When close to the color-bearer he received a shot in the face which knocked him backward on his horse, but in a moment he was again upright in his saddle and fired at the color-bearer, hitting him and causing him to reel. Immediately Custer reached out and grasped the flag, wrenching the standard from the color-bearer as he fell, and dashed back to his lines. Here he met his brother, General G[eorge]. A. Custer, and called out to him: “The rebels have shot me, but I’ve got their flag.” Instantly he set spurs to his horse to charge again, but the general, realizing the severity of his brother’s wound, checked him, and told him to go to the rear and have it dressed. This the lieutenant refused to do, whereupon General Custer ordered him under arrest and to the rear, where it was found that the bullet had entered his cheek and passed out behind the ear.
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Read about even more Medal of Honor winners at the Siege of Petersburg:
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Introduction
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: At the “Breakthrough”
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Ride to Almost Certain Death
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Under Special Protection of Providence
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Three Examples of Soldierly Devotion
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Recaptured Colors and Took Two Prisoners
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: 3 Men Capture 27 “Johnnies”
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Captured, But Their Colors Were Saved
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Retained Command Despite Severe Wounds
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: He Paused at the Side of His Dead Captain
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: The Hero of Fort Haskell
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: The Gallant Colonel and His Brave Adjutant
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Bayonet Charge Put the Rebels to Flight
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Too Young for Enlistment, But Served
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: “Well Done, Taylor”
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Equal to the Emergency
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: An Improvised Bodyguard
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: The Fall of Fort Harrison
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Message Delivered Under Difficulty
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Thought Only of Saving the Flag
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: The Story of a Youthful Hero
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Sergeant Who Wisely Disbelieved
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Rounded Up Forty Rebels
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Scenes from Hatcher’s Run
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Rebel Charge That Failed
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: “I Was Mad as a Hornet”
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Risked Being Blown to Atoms at Dutch Gap Canal
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Swam the River Under Difficulties
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Valorous Deeds at Hatcher’s Run
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: “Lieutenant, What Say You?”
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Heroism In the Hour of Reverse
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Duty and Death Rather Than Dishonor
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Thrilling Episodes Around Petersburg
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Attracted General Custer’s Attention
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Engineer, Surgeon and Hero
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: “They Can’t Drive You Out of Here”
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Hero from the South
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Made Good Use of the Enemy’s Weapons
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: In Full View of the Enemy
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Gallant Vermonters
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: A Profitable Reconnoissance
- Petersburg Medals of Honor: Language More Forceful Than Elegant
- Between 1898 and 1905: James M. Pipes to to the Compilers of the Volume Deeds of Valor
- Newspaper Article: Powhatan Beaty, 5th USCT, Co G
- NP: October 3, 1864 Philadelphia Inquirer: AP Reports, September 29-30
- NP: January 12, 1888 Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer: Flagstaff of the 12th WV
- OR XL P1 #292: Medals of Honor, June 15-July 30, 1864
- OR XLII P1 #350: Medals of Honor, August 1-December 31, 1864
- OR XLVI P1 #178: Medals of Honor, Feb 5-7 and Mar 25, 1865
- OR XLVI P1 #266: Medals of Honor, Mar 31-Apr 9, 1865
- “Paddy the Horse” Ginley Wins a Medal of Honor at Reams Station
Source:
- Beyer, Walter F. and Keydel, Oscar F. Deeds of Valor: How America’s Heroes Won the Medal of Honor…, Volume 1 (The Perrien – Keydel Company: 1901), p. 517 ↩