US Civil War - what kinds of awards were given to soldiers?

The Medal of Honor was established during the Civil War for exactly that reason. Originally restricted to enlisted men. Generally, officers were awarded with brevet promotions.

R Leonard mentions the most recognized award. A 'Civil War Campaign Medal' was instituted for all soldiers and sailors who served in the war, but it was not instituted until decades later.

Some states and cities struck medals for their volunteers. And the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, both veterans associations, had medal awards for veterans. These were organized after the end of the war.

The Confederates didn't really have medals during the war - Lee wasn't in favor of them and the Confederate inflation around something like 9000%, so striking them would be a financial impossibility during the war. The Confederates did have an Honor Role, which was a list of men who had distinguished themselves on the field of battle. Men voted for individuals' names to be listed there and it was read aloud, published in Southern news papers, etc. There are quite a few medals that were awarded after the war, like the Davis Guard medals and others (here's a pretty thorough write up of Confederate Medals).

As already mentioned, the Medal of Honor came after the Civil War - with promotion a reward during the war... just as an example, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was breveted major general following his performance at Petersburg... he received a Medal of Honor for Little Round Top in the 1890's. A mere 30 year wait... a bit of a turn time.

As far as gifts... it seemed like once the newspapers picked up on certain heroic figures, people would send them tokens of appreciation... as was the case with Grant early on in the war. He was a pipe smoker, but a rare image of him smoking a cigar circulated after he took Ft Donelson and Ft Henry and admirers started sending him boxes upon boxes of cigars. Grant switched to cigars, smoked upwards of 20 a day - and in the end, they caused the aggressive throat cancer that would cut his life short.

We don't need no stinking badges!

Niobe said:

The Confederates didn't really have medals during the war - Lee wasn't in favor of them and the Confederate inflation around something like 9000%, so striking them would be a financial impossibility during the war. The Confederates did have an Honor Role, which was a list of men who had distinguished themselves on the field of battle. Men voted for individuals' names to be listed there and it was read aloud, published in Southern news papers, etc. There are quite a few medals that were awarded after the war, like the Davis Guard medals and others (here's a pretty thorough write up of Confederate Medals).

Click to expand...

Honor Roll and newspapers (one word).

Anyway, was a mere majority vote in one's regiment enough to make it on the Honor Roll or did one need more than a mere majority of the vote?

Also, what about medals for Union troops?

As already mentioned, the Medal of Honor came after the Civil War - with promotion a reward during the war... just as an example, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was breveted major general following his performance at Petersburg... he received a Medal of Honor for Little Round Top in the 1890's. A mere 30 year wait... a bit of a turn time.

Click to expand...

Interesting.

As far as gifts... it seemed like once the newspapers picked up on certain heroic figures, people would send them tokens of appreciation... as was the case with Grant early on in the war. He was a pipe smoker, but a rare image of him smoking a cigar circulated after he took Ft Donelson and Ft Henry and admirers started sending him boxes upon boxes of cigars. Grant switched to cigars, smoked upwards of 20 a day - and in the end, they caused the aggressive throat cancer that would cut his life short.

Click to expand...

On the plus side, though, at least Grant's aggressive throat cancer prompted him to write his Memoirs--with the logic being that his soon-to-be widow would need the money from these Memoirs after his death in order to avoid poverty. Some more information on Grant's Memoirs can be found here:


FWIW, Mark Twain strongly praised Grant's Memoirs:

I had been comparing the memoirs with Caesar's Commentaries. …I was able to say in all sincerity, that the same high merits distinguished both books—clarity of statement, directness, simplicity, unpretentiousness, manifest truthfulness, fairness and justice toward friend and foe alike, soldierly candor and frankness, and soldierly avoidance of flowery speech. I placed the two books side by side upon the same high level, and I still think that they belonged there.[20]

Click to expand...

The Wikipedia article above contains a free link to the full text of both volumes of Grant's Memoirs, in case you and/or anyone else here is curious about this.

Abraham95 said:

We don't need no stinking badges!

Click to expand...

Too perfect!

Niobe said:

....As already mentioned, the Medal of Honor came after the Civil War - with promotion a reward during the war... just as an example, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was breveted major general following his performance at Petersburg... he received a Medal of Honor for Little Round Top in the 1890's. A mere 30 year wait... a bit of a turn time. ...

Click to expand...

The United States Medal of Honor was instituted during the Civil War and a number of medals were awarded during the war itself, though most medals for the Civil War were awarded years or decades later.

The first award of the Medal of Honor was on March 25, 1863, to to surviving members of the Andrews Raiders for actions on April 12, 1862:

Great Locomotive Chase - Wikipedia

The first action for which a Medal of Honor was awarded was on February 13, 1861, by Dr. Bernard J.B. Irwin, an army surgeon. His medal was awarded over thirty years later, on January 24, 1894.

Bernard J. D. Irwin - Wikipedia

This photo is believed to have been taken in 1864, on the day the soldier was awarded the Medal of honor for actions a year and a half earlier.

Medal of Honor Monday: 11-Year-Old Willie Johnston

Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) was Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury form 1861-1864). Chase hoped to run for president in 1864, and created a medal for heroism of his own.

I'm not certain what the Chase medals looked like. But the circular object worn by this sergeant might be the Chase Medal that he was presented by Kate Chase, Salmon's daughter.

Kids in Battle: 10 American Child Soldiers of the Civil War

The unofficial Kearney Medal was instituted for Officers in 1862 and the Kearney Cross was instituted for enlisted soldiers in 1863.

Kearny Cross - Wikipedia

This photo shows a recipient of the Kearney Cross:


Sergeant Gustav Schurmann in this photo was also awarded a Kearney Cross:

Kids in Battle: 10 American Child Soldiers of the Civil War

The US army instituted an award called the Certificate of Merit durin the Mexican-American War in 1846-1848:

Original Certificate of Merit[edit]
The original Certificate of Merit was authorized by an Act of Congress related to the expansion of the US Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). The legislation authorized brevets to non-commissioned officers and for privates who distinguished themselves in service "the President may in like manner grant him a certificate of merit, which shall entitle him to additional pay at the rate of two dollars per month."[1] This was a step forward in the recognition of the individual contributions of soldiers.[2] The first certificates were only authorized for Privates and it was not until 1854 that the Certificate of Merit was awarded to NCOs the rank of Sergeant and above. The Certificate of Merit was never authorized for officers. During this period from at least 1865 to 1904, the Certificate was used as an equivalent to the Medal of Honor. This created a dilemma for some soldiers, who applied for both awards, hoping to benefit from the pay increase included with the Certificate, in spite of the fact that military protocol restricted them to only one decoration. George Jordan is an example of a soldier who received both.[4] It was issued to 545 soldiers during the Mexican–American War.[5] After the war, the Certificate of Merit was discontinued.[6]

Reintroduced Certificate of Merit[edit]
Though the Army was of the position that it no longer had the authority to award the Certificate of Merit, commanders in the field continued to recommend soldiers for the award, but the Army did not act on the nominations. Following the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, the Certificate of Merit was reintroduced.[7]

Click to expand...

Certificate of Merit Medal - Wikipedia

So during part or all of the US Civil War there were four different awards for Union soldiers that I know of.

Oops! Message was an error.

Futurist said:

Honor Roll and newspapers (one word).

Click to expand...

Ah, well... I have a doctor's note for you to excuse me from being an ..... in this case. Here it is: Lupus Fog and Memory Problems . How I got by for years making spelling / Freudian slips before I got sick is still a mystery to me... but once I start making too many slips or tpying out semtences that mak me soun dlike a drunmk... that usually tips me off to how rough of a time I'm having. Probably best to remain off Historum until I can present myself in a more decent, coherent fashion.

Futurist said:

Anyway, was a mere majority vote in one's regiment enough to make it on the Honor Roll or did one need more than a mere majority of the vote?

Click to expand...

Yes; majority vote - it was rather singular in that it was based on the choice of fellow soldiers.

Futurist said:

Also, what about medals for Union troops?

Click to expand...

See @MAGolding 's post... it's very thorough.

Futurist said:

On the plus side, though, at least Grant's aggressive throat cancer prompted him to write his Memoirs--with the logic being that his soon-to-be widow would need the money from these Memoirs after his death in order to avoid poverty. Some more information on Grant's Memoirs can be found here:

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

FWIW, Mark Twain strongly praised Grant's Memoirs:



The Wikipedia article above contains a free link to the full text of both volumes of Grant's Memoirs, in case you and/or anyone else here is curious about this.

Click to expand...

This might be a case of flawed causality (post hoc ergo propter hoc).

If you are looking to form a sense of causality, I think that falling victim to Ferdinand Ward's scheme perhaps was more of a motivating factor for Grant to publish his memoirs and several articles before his death. If he hadn't had cancer, he would have still been galvanized to provide for his family. Furthermore, who knows how much more he would have written had he lived 10 more years? From the moment when eating a peach and exclaimed to his wife that something in it had "stung" him in the throat to his last breath was a short 14 months. He wrote his memoirs in agony... working when his doctor insisted he should be resting... in true U. S. Grant fashion, he stoically willed himself to live until his book was completed. What a sad way to go! Just for a moment, imagine how much more this taciturn, humble man may have written to lessen the burden of poverty had he not died so quickly...


Adieu for now!