Charles McAnally facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles McAnally
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McAnally in 1865
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| Born | May 12, 1836 Glenviggan, Ballinascreen, County Londonderry, Ireland |
| Died | 1905 (aged 68–69) Washington, D.C. |
| Allegiance |  United States of AmericaUnion |
| Service/ |
 Union Army |
| Years of service | 1861 - 1865 |
| Rank |  Captain |
| Unit |  Company D, 69th Pennsylvania Infantry |
| Commands held | Company D |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War: |
| Awards | Medal of Honor |
Charles McAnally (May 12, 1836 – 1905) was a native of Glenviggan, County Londonderry, Ireland who served with the federal army of the United States (also known as the Union Army) during the American Civil War. Severely wounded in action while fighting as a first lieutenant with Company D of the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry at Spottsylvania, Virginia on May 12, 1864, he captured the flag of the enemy during hand-to-hand combat with Confederate States Army soldiers, and was subsequently awarded the United States' highest commendation for valor, the Medal of Honor, on October 15, 1872.
Formative years
Born in Glenviggan, Ballinascreen, County Londonderry, Ireland, Charles McAnally emigrated in 1852.
American Civil War military service
Charles McAnally became one of the early responders to the call by United States President Abraham Lincoln for volunteers to help defend Washington, D.C. following the mid-April 1861 fall of Fort Sumter to troops from the Confederate States Army. After enrolling for military service in Philadelphia during the summer of 1861, he then officially mustered in there as a captain with Company D of the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry on August 1, 1861.
Encamped near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 5, 1863, following the Battle of Gettysburg, he penned a letter to the widow of James Hand, one of his D Company subordinates who had been killed in action:
In 1864, while fighting as a first lieutenant with the 69th Pennsylvania and other Union Army troops in the Battle of Spottsylvania Court House, he performed the acts of valor which would ultimately result in his being awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. On May 12, he was "[c]ut in head, shot [in the] left shoulder; also through right leg, knee and head" while capturing the enemy flag from Confederate States Army soldiers during hand-to-hand combat.
In late October of that same year, McAnally led members of his regiment and others from the 106th Pennsylvania Infantry in an assault upon Confederate troops in order to silence a CSA artillery battery during the Battle of Boydton Plank Road. According to a report by 106th Pennsylvania first lieutenant John H.
McAnally mustered out with his regiment at Philadelphia on July 1, 1865.
Post-war life
After the war, McAnally married on August 24, 1871 in Burleson County, Texas to widow Frances 'Fanny' Veach, and purchased farmland in Lee County, Texas. He married a second time on December 18, 1882 in Travis County, Texas to widow Julia Hofheintz and lived for some time in the city of Austin, Texas. He had one known child, a daughter, born in February 1880 in Texas.
During the 1890s, McAnally was admitted to the network of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Admitted on March 5, 1896 to the Southern Branch home in Elizabeth City, Virginia, he was enumerated by a federal census taker in 1900 as a resident of that home who had been confined as an inmate at Fort Monroe.
Hospital records for this period noted that, on March 13, 1905, he was "Dropped/demanding discharges while under sentence". Those military hospital records also noted that he was a 60-year-old farmer and widower who was 5' 7-1/2" tall with gray hair, blue eyes and a light complexion, and that his residence subject to discharge was Philadelphia, and confirmed that he had sustained a gunshot wound of the left shoulder during the fighting at Spotsylvania in 1864.
Hospitalized in late July 1905 due to heart disease, McAnally died in the asylum hospital in Washington, D.C. on August 8, 1905.
See also
