b. 03/04/1840 Bradford County, Pennsylvania. d. 16/03/1919 Wyalusing, Pennsylvania.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 06/05/1864 Wilderness Campaign, Virginia.
Stephen Rought MOH
Rought was born on 3 April 1840 in Bradford County, Pennsylvania to parents George and Catharine Rought. He had an older brother, Jacob Rought. He married Margaret Helen McAllester and fathered 5 children.
Rought enlisted in the Army as a corporal on 18 August 1862 at Crampton, Pennsylvania. He was mustered into Company A of the 141st Pennsylvania Infantry. He was promoted to sergeant on 18 November 1862. He was wounded and captured by the Confederates on 3 May 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but was released soon after. On 6 May 1864, before a charge on the 13th North Carolina Infantry, a veteran unit, Rought found that he had lost his bayonet the night before. During the charge, he killed the Confederate color sergeant with the stock of his musket and captured the unit’s flag. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was later seriously wounded on 12 May 1864 at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia and was in a Washington D.C. hospital at the time of his muster out of service on 28 May 1865.
He was presented with his Medal on December 1, 1864.
MOH CITATION:
Capture of flag of the 13th North Carolina Infantry (C.S.A.).
BURIAL LOCATION: SPRINGHILL CEMETERY, LACEYVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
