b. 18/06/1837 Ross, Ohio. d. 31/10/1912 St Louis, Missouri.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 10/08/1861 Wilson’s Creek, Missouri.
Lorenzo D Immell MOH
Lorenzo Dow Immell was born on June 18, 1837, in Ross County, Ohio, to Jacob Immell, Sr. and Mary Ann Sibrel. As a corporal in Co. F, 2nd U.S. Artillery, during the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Immell gathered cannon from another battery and continued to fire on the Confederate assault. A soldier named John Kelly witnessed his bravery, and his recounting appeared in the St. Louis Globe Democrat on August 8, 1897.
“At the Battle of Wilson Creek, Mo., on the 10th of August 1861, I was witness to an act of bravery performed by the said Corp. Immell, namely, going between the lines at short range and cutting out the dead lead team of Corp. Wittenberry’s caisson and cutting a sapling, where it was lodged, and mounting the swing team and taking it out, for which act the line cheered.
At the close of the engagement his off wheel horse fell, fatally wounded, and Corp. Immell received three wounds himself. He put in a mule in place of the off wheel horse, saved his six-pounder gun; otherwise it would have been abandoned, as all the troops, except a company of 1st Iowa Infantry, had withdrawn from that part of the field.”
Another soldier and comrade, William J. Williams, also witnessed Immell’s bravery at Wilson Creek at wrote an affidavit recounting the event:“I was a private in Capt. James Tottens’ Company F, 2nd United States Artillery, and was acting gunner of the third piece in the battle at Wilson’s Creek, Mo., the 10th of August, ’61, and remember seeing Corporal L.D. Immell advance between the enemy and our lines and cut loose the lead team, which had been killed, then mount the saddle horse of the swing team and save the caisson of Corporal Wittenberry’s piece, which had been abandoned by all the drivers and men, and remember our whole line cheering him; also of seeing him take a mule on the same day and put him in placeof one of the wheel-horses which had been shot, take an ax and cut a small tree, which the piece was fast on, and save the gun; also saw him advance and get a horse belonging to the enemy, under a hot fire, which I had killed the rider of with canister shot, he having his horse shot under him in the fore part of the engagement. Also remember Capt. James E. Tottens telling him he was the bravest man he ever saw, and that he would see him rewarded. L.D. Immell was one of the youngest soldiers in the company when the war commenced, and was made a Corporal while yet a recruit, and there was no promotion that he could have received that the company would not have appreciated. He was a good soldier.”
On July 19, 1890, Immell was recognized for his bravery at Wilson’s Creek with the Medal of Honor. After the war, he was a member of Ransom Post #131 of the G.A.R in St. Louis, Missouri. His comrades thought highly of him as a soldier as summed up by the previous affidavits and this account, in the same article, of his entire Civil War service: “The record of L.D. Immell is most remarkable. Perhaps no comrade in Ransom Post saw longer or more arduous service than he. Beginning with the defense of the arsenal in St. Louis in March and April, 1861, he participated in the capture of Camp Jackson , May 10, 1861, the battle of Boonville, Mo., June 17, 1861, the skirmishes at Syracuse and Dug Springs, followed by the battle of Wilson’s Creek on August 10, 1861, again followed by the capture of Island No. 10, then Fort Pillow, Farmington, Corinth, and Boonville, when Gen. Sheridan thrashed Gen. Chalmers. He participated also at Rienzi, Iuka, the second battle of Corinth, Oxford, Missionary Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Rockyface Ridge, Dalton, Buzzard Roost and so on through to Atlanta. Every comrade who was with the army in that section of the country knows it was a continual series of battles until after Atlanta fell. Then came Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station, Columbia, Tenn., Spring Hill, Franklin, Nashville, etc. Mr. Immell was wounded slightly three times at Wilson’s Creek. At Corinth, he was again wounded, also at Resaca, at the siege of Atlanta and at Jonesboro, Ga.”
Immell and his family eventually migrated to Franklin County, Missouri. He died on October 31, 1912, and was buried in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.
MOH CITATION:
Bravery in action.
BURIAL LOCATION: JEFFERSON BARRACKS NATIONAL CEMETERY, ST LOUIS, MISSOURI.
SECTION 4, GRAVE 12342.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
