b. 1842 Ireland. d. 19/01/1877 Detroit, Michigan.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 31/10/1864 USS Commodore Hull.
He and his family had emigrated to the United States when he was a boy, most probably during the Great Famine. Once in America they settled in Rochester; the future sailor may well be the 10-year-old Pat Colbert recorded with his grandmother, parents and two siblings as living in the city’s Fourth Ward in 1850. There is some possibility that they originally hailed from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, though more research into this required. When he enlisted aged 21-years he gave his trade as carpenter, though he had also acquired maritime experience. Patrick was exceedingly small, standing only 5 feet 1 1/4 inches tall. He was initially stationed on the receiving ship USS North Carolina before going on to serve aboard the USS Flag from May to October 1862, eventually ending up on the Commodore Hull that November. He stayed on the crew of the converted side-wheel ferryboat until January 1865, and was ultimately discharged the following May.
Patrick Colbert returned to Rochester after the war, where he married and went into the cigar and tobacco business with his brother. Whether the mental scars of his experience troubled him we do not know, but the wound he received in his right side certainly did. Within a few years he had developed pulmonary consumption, the doctor stating it was particularly severe in his right lung, near where he had been struck. The Medal of Honor recipient died in Detroit, Michigan on 19th January 1877, when he was around 36-years-old.
MOH CITATION:
Served on board the U.S.S. Commodore Hull at the capture of Plymouth, 31 October 1864.
BURIAL LOCATION: MOUNT ELLIOTT CEMETERY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN.
SECTION N, LOT 144
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
