b. 29/04/1839 Reading Center, New York. d. 09/07/1926 Greensburg, Indiana.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 22/05/1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Reuben Smalley MOH
Smalley was born on 28 April 1839 in Reading Center, New York to parents Elias and Rozelphia Smalley. His father died when he was three years old, and he was subsequently taken in by his uncle to be raised in Jennings County, Indiana. He married Martha Ann Johnson in 1859 and fathered two children, both of whom died in childhood.
Smalley enlisted in the Army as a private on 15 August 1862 in Holton, Indiana and was assigned to Company F of the 83rd Indiana Infantry. On 22 May 1863, at the Siege of Vicksburg, Smalley volunteered to participate in an infantry charge, the objective of which was to build a bridge over a Confederate trench so that Union forces could take the town of Vicksburg. The charge did not achieve its objective, with over 85% of the 150 men participating in it being killed or wounded throughout the ten hour affair. For this action, the survivors of the charge, including Smalley, were awarded the Medal of Honor.
After the war, he worked as a railroad construction worker and steam engine operator. He was also elected as constable of Greensburg, Indiana.
MOH CITATION:
Gallantry in the charge of the “volunteer storming party.”
BURIAL LOCATION: SOUTH PARK CEMETERY, GREENSBURG, INDIANA.
SECTION C, LOT 31.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
