Bruce Anderson (soldier) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bruce Anderson
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | June 19, 1845 Mexico City |
| Died | August 22, 1922 (aged 77) Albany, New York |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance | United States of America Union |
| Service/ |
United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1864 - 1865 |
| Rank | Private |
| Unit |  Company K, 142nd Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War Second Battle of Fort Fisher |
| Awards |  Medal of Honor |
Bruce Anderson (June 19, 1845 – August 22, 1922) was an African American Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.
After working as a farmer in New York Anderson joined the military to fight in the Civil War and volunteered with a group of other soldiers to eliminate a palisade that was blocking the advance of his unit. After completing the mission and destroying the palisade, Anderson and twelve others were recommended for the Medal of Honor but the paperwork was lost. Anderson hired an attorney to get the Medal and he and two other soldiers received it in 1914.
Biography
Anderson was born June 19, 1845 in Mexico City but by the beginning of the Civil War was working as a farmer in New York. He enlisted for service in the military from Schenectady on August 31, 1864 as a private in Company K, 142nd New York Volunteer Infantry. Anderson has the unusual, but not unique, distinction of being an African American soldier who served in a white Civil War regiment.
On January 15, 1865, Anderson participated in the Union's second attack on Fort Fisher in North Carolina. He and twelve other men answered a call for volunteers to advance ahead of the main attack and cut down the palisade which blocked their path. Despite intense fire from the Confederate defenders, Anderson and the others were successful in destroying the obstacle. General Adelbert Ames recommended all thirteen men for the Medal of Honor, but his report was misplaced and not all of the medals were issued.
Forty-nine years after the end of the war, in 1914, Anderson hired a lawyer in an effort to receive the Medal of Honor. One of the other soldiers in the palisade-cutting group, Private Zachariah C. Neahr, had successfully petitioned for the award decades earlier. At Anderson's prompting, the Adjutant General of the Army launched an investigation which uncovered General Ames' letter of recommendation and sought out the other men of the group. Three men, Alaric B. Chapin, George Merrill, and Dewitt C. Hotchkiss, were found to be still alive and were, along with Anderson, again recommended for the medal. Anderson, Merrill, and Chapin were each issued the Medal of Honor on December 28, 1914; Hotchkiss' recommendation was overlooked a second time, and he was never decorated.
Anderson lived for a time in Illinois, but eventually returned to New York and settled there in the city of Amsterdam. He died August 22, 1922 at age 77 in St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, New York, and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Amsterdam.
