b. 1834 Connecticut. d. 15/05/1903 New York.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 09/08/1862 Cedar Mountain, Virginia.
George W Corliss MOH
Corliss was born in Connecticut in 1834. He enlisted into the 5th Connecticut Infantry at New Haven in Connecticut. During his act of bravery for which he earned a Medal of Honor, Corliss was injured in his right leg and was therefore captured by Confederates. He was held at Libby Prison until he was exchanged around January 1863. He soon resigned from active service due to his disability but rejoined as a commissioned 1st Lieutenant and Regimental Adjutant with the 3rd Veterans Reserve Corps. He was brevetted major in 1865.
Corliss was married to Catherine Bounce and they resided in Mississippi where he was assistant Sub-Commissioner of the District of Vicksburg within the Bureau of Refugees. After leaving this post in 1869 he resided in New Haven, Connecticut and then Manhattan, where he was an insurance broker. He was married again to Mary Harriet Munson, after the death of his first wife. His second marriage produced two children. He was finally awarded the Medal of Honor on 10 September 1897.
MOH CITATION:
Seized a fallen flag of the regiment, the color bearer having been killed, carried it forward in the face of a severe fire, and though himself shot down and permanently disabled, planted the staff in the earth and kept the flag flying.
BURIAL LOCATION: MAPLE GROVE CEMETERY, KEW GARDENS, NEW YORK.
SUMMIT SECTION, LOT 214, GRAVE 2
LOCATION OF MEDAL: CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL SOCIETY (1896 DESIGN), HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
