James Jardine (Medal of Honor)

James Jardine (April 16, 1837 – December 9, 1922) was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Siege of Vicksburg on May 22, 1863.

James Jardine
Civil War era Medal of Honor
Jardine in 1865
Born(1837-04-16)April 16, 1837
Helensburgh, Scotland
DiedDecember 9, 1922(1922-12-09) (aged 85)
Ohio
Place of burial
Ohio Veterans Home Cemetery, Sandusky, Ohio
Allegiance United States
Service/branch
Rank First Lieutenant
UnitCompany F, 54th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars
AwardsMedal of Honor

Union assault

On May 22, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered an assault on the Confederate heights at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The plan called for a storming party of volunteers to build a bridge across a moat and plant scaling ladders against the enemy embankment in advance of the main attack. The volunteers knew the odds were against survival and the mission was called, in nineteenth century vernacular, a "forlorn hope". Only single men were accepted as volunteers and even then, twice as many men as needed came forward and were turned away. The assault began in the early morning following a naval bombardment.

The Union soldiers came under enemy fire immediately and were pinned down in the ditch they were to cross. Despite repeated attacks by the main Union body, the men of the forlorn hope were unable to retreat until nightfall. Of the 150 men in the storming party, nearly half were killed. Seventy-nine of the survivors were awarded the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor citation

For gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863.[1][2][3][4]

See also

Notes
  1. Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs (1968), p. 132.
  2. Sightline Media Group (2020).
  3. VCOnline (2020).
  4. CMOHS (2014).

References
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.