b. 04/07/1841 Covington, Ohio. d. 24/01/1927 Holiday Cove, West Virginia.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 22/05/1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Uriah H Brown MOH
Born in Covington, Ohio on July 4, 1841, Uriah H. Brown was a son of Ohio native William Brown. Brown enrolled for Civil War military service at Steubenville, Ohio in August 1861, and then officially mustered in for duty that same month at Camp Chase as a private with Company G of the 30th Ohio Infantry. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on May 22, 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi. His citation reads “Despite the death of his captain at his side during the assault, he continued carrying his log to the defense ditch. While he was laying his log in place he was shot down and thrown into the water. Unmindful of his own wound he, despite the intense fire, dragged five of his comrades from the ditch, wherein they lay wounded, to a place of safety.”
Following his honorable discharge from the military, Brown resumed his life as a civilian. Employed as carpenter in West Virginia during the mid-1860s and married to Illinois native America/Americus (Loland) Brown, he welcomed the birth of their son, Lee, sometime around 1865, and their daughter, Mary Jane, in Hancock County, West Virginia on June 11, 1868. In 1870, Brown was a farmer living in Gilmore Township, Jackson County, Virginia with his wife and two children, Lee and Mary Jane. Their daughter, Alice Ellen, was then born in the Kings Creek District of Hancock County on September 29, 1882, followed by daughter, Rebecca, who was born in Pleasants County, West Virginia on December 4, 1886. Sometime around 1884, Brown remarried, taking as his bride, Sarah Elizabeth Greer, a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania.
By 1890, he was documented as a resident of the community of Florence in Hanover Township, Washington County. The special census of Civil War veterans and widows, which was conducted by the federal government that year, documented his initial 1861 enrollment with the 30th Ohio, as well as his subsequent re-enlistment with that regiment in 1864, and noted that he had been “twice wounded”. On August 15, 1894, his Civil War heroism was finally acknowledged by the federal government when he was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor.
Suffering from nephritis, Brown finally succumbed to complications from the disease in Hollidays Cove on January 24, 1927. His widow served as the informant on his death certificate. His remains were returned to Pennsylvania, and interred at the Paris Cemetery in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
MOH CITATION:
Despite the death of his captain at his side during the assault he continued carrying his log to the defense ditch. While he was laying his log in place he was shot down and thrown into the water. Unmindful of his own wound he, despite the intense fire, dragged 5 of his comrades from the ditch, wherein they lay wounded, to a place of safety.
BURIAL LOCATION: PARIS CEMETERY, PARIS, PENNSYLVANIA.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
