b. 06/09/1843 Granby, Connecticut. d. 08/02/1865 Salisbury, North Carolina.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 27/10/1864 USN Picket Boat Number One.
Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. His true name was Lorenzo Deming. He enlisted into the United States Navy. Denning was taken as a Prisoner of War on the day he performed the act of gallantry that earned him the Medal of Honor. Sadly, Lorenzo died in hospital near Salisbury, North Carolina, and was buried in a long trench mass grave in Salisbury National Cemetery. He was one of 11,700 unknowns in the trench. He has an Memorial Marker in Fairview Cemetery, New Britain, Connecticut.
MOH CITATION:
Denning served on board the U.S. Picket Boat No. 1 in action, 27 October 1864, against the Confederate ram Albemarle which had resisted repeated attacks by our steamers and had kept a large force of vessels employed in watching her. The picket boat, equipped with a spar torpedo, succeeded in passing the enemy pickets within 20 yards without being discovered and then made for the Albemarle under a full head of steam. Immediately taken under fire by the ram, the small boat plunged on, jumped the log boom which encircled the target and exploded its torpedo under the port bow of the ram. The picket boat was destroyed by enemy fire and almost the entire crew taken prisoner or lost.
BURIAL LOCATION: FAIRVIEW CEMETERY, NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.
Actually buried in a mass grave at Salisbury National Cemetery, Salisbury, North Carolina.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
