Aaron Anderson (Medal of Honor)

On March 17, 1865, less than one month before the end of the war, he participated in a mission to attack Confederate forces in Mattox Creek, a tributary of the Potomac in Virginia. A boat equipped with a howitzer was launched from another ship of the Potomac Flotilla, the USS Don, and a group of seventy men was sent to follow along the river bank on foot. Anderson and a number of other black landsmen worked the oars on the boat, while Boatswain's Mate Patrick Mullen manned the howitzer and Ensign Summers acted as commander. As the boat and the accompanying foot soldiers made their way up the creek's right fork, the foot soldiers came under sporadic fire from snipers. Upon finding four small boats which had been abandoned by the Confederates, the soldiers on the river bank set about destroying them.[2]

Meanwhile, the men in the boat rowed back down the creek and then up the left fork. Without a supporting land force, the boat was vulnerable to attack from Confederate soldiers on the river banks, and the deeper waters of the left fork meant that they might encounter a larger craft than their own. Upon coming around a bend in the creek, they saw three seemingly abandoned schooners moored on shore. As Mullen prepared to fire the howitzer at the three ships, the boat came under fire from about 400 Confederate soldiers on shore. Summers ordered Anderson and the other oarsmen to row towards the schooners, and, when close enough, Mullen tossed an incendiary device onto each. With the schooners in flames, the boat began retreating downstream through heavy fire from the Confederates. Half of the boat's oars and Summers' musket were destroyed by gunfire, and there were several bullet holes in the side of the boat. As Anderson and the other men who still had oars continued to row downstream, the rest of the oarsmen bailed water while Mullen fired the howitzer at the soldiers on shore. They successfully escaped from the Confederate force, and although the boat was badly damaged, the only casualty was one landsman slightly wounded.[3]

Summers singled out Anderson and Mullen for their actions during the skirmish, and both men were awarded the Medal of Honor on June 22, 1865.[4][5] Anderson's award was issued under the name "Aaron Sanderson", the misspelling which had been entered into the Wyandank's logs.[1] Mullen earned a second Medal of Honor less than two months after the Mattox Creek expedition, making him one of only nineteen two-time recipients.[5]

Citation:

Served on board the U.S.S. Wyandank during a boat expedition up Mattox Creek, March 17, 1865. Participating with a boat crew in the clearing of Mattox Creek, L/man Anderson carried out his duties courageously in the face of a devastating fire which cut away half the oars, pierced the launch in many places and cut the barrel off a musket being fired at the enemy.[5]