b. 16/05/1845 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. d. 02/06/1919 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 12/07/1864 Fort Stevens, Washington DC.
William J Wray MOH
Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. Born in Philadelphia, at the age of 16 he enlisted in the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (nicknamed “Birney’s Zouaves” after Colonel David B. Birney) after the outbreak of the Civil War, being mustered into service on August 2, 1861. He served in Company F, and stayed with the unit until his transfer on February 14,1864.
He was wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, getting shot through the eye on December 13, 1862. He spent the 1862 Christmas holiday recovering but soon was back defending the Union in Company K of the 1st Veterans Reserve Corps, which was designated for wounded or invalid soldiers who wanted to fight. During the July 12, 1864 Confederate strike at Washington, DC, he was stationed at Fort Stevens, and was awarded the CMOH for his bravery there that day, with his citation reading “Rallied the company at a critical moment during a change of position under fire”.
His Medal was awarded to him on December 15, 1892. Wray was discharged as a Sergeant on November 23, 1865. He died in 1919 in Philadelphia, and was buried in American Mechanics Cemetery. In 1951 the area was developed and the bodies removed. His body was disinterred on September 11, 1951 and re-interred on September 13, 1951, along with several other Wray family members, in Philadelphia Memorial Park in Frazier Pennsylvania. Marked only with a small stone that gave his last name only, his grave went virtually unnoticed until rediscovered in 2002.
MOH CITATION:
Rallied the company at a critical moment during a change of position under fire.
BURIAL LOCATION: PHILADELPHIA MEMORIAL PARK, FRAZER, PENNSYLVANIA.
AMC-DIVISION F, SECTION 1, LOT 32, GRAVE 1.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
