Fact File 1.
by Terry Foenander.
Unlike the Union Army, no commissioned officer of the Union Navy (at the time of the action for which the award was recommended) ever received a Medal of Honor.
Section 7 of the statute (An Act to further promote the efficiency of the Navy. 12 Stat. 329-330), dated December 21, 1861, which legislated for the inception of the Navy Medals of Honor, stated, "And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy be, and is hereby, authorized to cause two hundred 'medals of honor' to be prepared, with suitable emblematic devices, which shall be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen, and marines as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other seamanlike qualities during the present war, and that the sum of one thousand dollars be, and is hereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury, for the purpose of carrying this section into effect." [MOH 1032.]
In contrast, similar legislation for the production of medals of honor for the Army states, "And be it further enacted, That the President cause to be struck from the dies recently prepared at the United States Mint for that purpose, 'medals of honor' additional to those authorized by the act (resolution) of July twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty two, and present the same to such officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates as have most distinguished, or who may hereafter most distinguish, themselves in action; and the sum of twenty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any monies in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expenses of the same." [MOH 1035.]
As such, no commissioned officer of the Navy was ever awarded a Medal of Honor during the course of the Civil War. However, some of the enlisted personnel who were recipients of this award were, at a later stage, appointed as officers. (An example being Charles James Bibber, gunner's mate of the USS Agawam, who was given the award for his part in an action against Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on December 23, 1864, and who was appointed a mate on March 1, 1865.)
By the same token, three of the Naval recipients of the Medal were pilots, who seem to have been in a class of their own. These were John H. Ferrell, of the USS Neosho, Martin Freeman of the USS Hartford, and Perry Wilkes of the USS Signal. Many of the pilots in Union Naval service, during the war, seem to have been appointed in a civilian capacity, and Ferrell, Freeman and Perry were no exception. Freeman, however, whose history during the Civil War was quite exceptional and interesting, was appointed an acting volunteer lieutenant on October 18, 1864, more than two months after the action at Mobile Bay, for which he was awarded the Medal. [Callahan.]
In the early months of the war German-born Freeman was the owner of a fishing smack, the Delight, and who was operating off Ship Island, Mississippi, when he was captured in December, 1861, by a Union Navy vessel. [ORN 1, 16, 817.]
He was very highly rated as a pilot, with both commodore Henry Thatcher and rear-admiral David Farragut mentioning his high qualities. [ORN 1, 20, 739 & 1, 21, 420-421.] Farragut states, in a dispatch dated aboard the USS Hartford, at Mobile Bay, August 12, 1864, "The last of my staff, and to whom I would call the notice of the Department, is not the least in importance. I mean Pilot Martin Freeman. He has been my great reliance in all difficulties in his line of duty. During the action [at Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864] he was in the maintop, piloting the ships into the bay. He was cool and brave throughout, never losing his self-possession. This man was captured early in the war in a fine fishing smack which he owned, and though he protested that he had no interest in the war and only asked for the privilege of fishing for the fleet, yet his services were too valuable to the captors as a pilot not to be secured. He was appointed a first class pilot and has served us with zeal and fidelity, and has lost his vessel, which went to pieces on Ship Island. I commend him to the Department." Some two weeks later, while involved in clearing torpedoes from the waters of the Bay, Freeman was seriously wounded when one of these exploded, and he was sent to hospital at Pensacola. [ORN 1, 21, 616 & 786.] However, his condition improved and by the beginning of 1865 he was in command of the schooner Sam Houston operating in the waters of the Gulf. Freeman was honorably discharged on January 20, 1867, and he must have returned to his fishing business. He died September 11, 1894, at the age of 80, and is buried at Pascagoula, Mississippi. [Home of Heroes.]
Pilot John H. Ferrell, of the USS Neosho, received his award for his actions on the Cumberland River, some miles below Nashville, in December, 1864, when he went out, under heavy fire, with quartermaster John Ditzenback, to prop up the drooping flag of the vessel. Strangely enough, when acting rear admiral Samuel P. Lee, who was in command of the Mississippi Squadron, sent in the reports relating to the action, he only recommended that John Ditzenback be given the award. Perhaps he may have been under the impression that Ferrell, as a pilot, was an officer, and thus did not qualify for the award. Thankfully Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, knew better, and also placed Ferrell on the qualifying list. [ORN 1, 26, 640 & 652.]
Perry Wilkes, as pilot of the USS Signal, remained at his post at the wheel until it was literally shot out of his grasp, while in action on the Red River, May 5, 1864. [ORN 1, 26, 119 &122.]
Sources:
Callahan: "List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps from 1775 to 1900," edited by Edward W. Callahan; originally published by L.R. Hamersly & Co., New York, 1901; reprint edition by Olde Soldier Books, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, circa 1987.
Home of Heroes: Death and burial data from the Home of Heroes (relating to recipients of the Medal of Honor) web site, at URL: http://www.homeofheroes.com/gravesites/states/pages.af/freeman_martin_ms.html
MOH: "The Congressional Medal of Honor: the Names, the Deeds," published 1984, by Sharp & Dunnigan Publications, Forest Ranch, California 95942. Citation includes page number.
ORN: "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion," originally published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., in 31 volumes (including the Index volume); reprint edition, 1987, by the National Historical Society, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105. Citation includes series, volume and page numbers.
May, 2005.