b. 27/05/1841 Long Bottom, Ohio. d. 07/04/1917 Long Bottom, Ohio.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 22/05/1863 Vicksburg, Mississippi.
William H Barringer MOH
Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. He served as a Private in the Union Army in Company F, 4th West Virginia Infantry. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for action on May 22, 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi. His citation reads “Gallantry in the charge of the “volunteer storming party.”
On May 22, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered an assault on the Confederate heights at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The plan called for a storming party of volunteers to build a bridge across a moat and plant scaling ladders against the enemy embankment in advance of the main attack. The volunteers knew the odds were against survival and the mission was called, in nineteenth century vernacular, a “forlorn hope”. Only single men were accepted as volunteers and even then, twice as many men as needed came forward and were turned away. The assault began in the early morning following a naval bombardment. The Union soldiers came under enemy fire immediately and were pinned down in the ditch they were to cross. Despite repeated attacks by the main Union body, the men of the forlorn hope were unable to retreat until nightfall. Of the 150 men in the storming party, nearly half were killed. Seventy-nine of the survivors were awarded the Medal of Honor. Barringer received his Medal over 31 years later on July 12, 1894.
MOH CITATION:
For gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863.
BURIAL LOCATION: MOUNT OLIVE CEMETERY, LONG BOTTOM, OHIO.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
