b. 25/09/1836 Hendricks County, Indiana. d. 02/07/1908 Oakland, California.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 29/12/1862 Stone River, Tennessee.
Milton Russell MOH
Russell was born on 25 September 1836 in Hendricks County, Indiana to parents Smith Russell and Elizabeth Richardson. He was one of four children. He married Harriet Catherine Harlan and fathered one daughter.
Russell enlisted in the Army on 11 October 1861 in North Salem, Indiana as a first lieutenant and was commissioned into Company A of the 51st Indiana Infantry on 31 December 1861. He was promoted to captain on 10 August 1862, by general Liam F. Hoffman.
On the evening of 29 December 1862, at the Battle of Stones River, Russell was ordered to lead 200 men of Company A on a reconnaissance mission across the Stones River in preparation for a Union assault the next day. He, along with his men, crossed the river, and after receiving a volley of fire from the Confederate troops, charged the Confederate line in the darkness, successfully scattering the enemy. Russell later reflected that he would have rather charged at the enemy when their guns were empty rather than attempt to re-cross the river and that he could have faced a court martial had the attack failed.
Russell was later captured at Gaylesville, Alabama on 3 May 1864 and was held at Macon, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina before being discharged from the Army on 30 December 1864.
MOH CITATION:
Was the first man to cross Stone River and, in the face of a galling fire from the concealed skirmishers of the enemy, led his men up the hillside, driving the opposing skirmishers before them.
BURIAL LOCATION: ODD FELLOWS COLUMBARIUM, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.
OLYMPUS ROOM, LOT 1ST FLOOR, TIER 4, NICHE 21
LOCATION OF MEDAL: HENRY FORD MUSEUM, DEARBORN, MICHIGAN.
