May 23, 1900: William Harvey Carney receives the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his actions in the American Civil War. He is often credited as the first black person to receive this honor.
He is officially recognized as the honoree with the earliest action to earn it. But unlike most white honorees, actually being presented with the Medal was a long time in coming.
The 1st black person to actually receive the nation's highest military honor was Sergeant Major Milton M. Holland. The native of Athens, Ohio received it on April 6, 1865, for his actions on September 29, 1864, at Chaffins Farm, Virginia, just south of Richmond. His citation read, "Took command of Company C, after all the officers had been killed or wounded, and gallantly led it."
Milton M. Holland
Carney was a "Leap Year Baby," born on February 29, 1840 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was born into slavery, and escaped through the Underground Railroad. He made his way to New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and, at the age of 23, joined the U.S. Army's first all-black unit, the famed 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
On July 18, 1863, he took part in the assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. When the color guard, the man assigned to hold the American flag up, was killed, Carney, already wounded himself, ran over, picked the flag off the ground, and marched forward with it.
When the Union troops were forced to retreat, he went with them, taking 3 more bullets, getting back to the troops' original line, and turned the flag over to another survivor, saying, "Boys, I only did my duty: The old flag never touched the ground!"
Sergeant William H. Carney, photographed after the battle.
That flag isn't touching the ground, or the floor, either.
He was honorably discharged due to disability in June 1864, and returned to New Bedford, first as a streetlight maintainer, then a postman, then worked for the Massachusetts Department of State at the State House in Boston. He married and had a daughter.
In 1891, Captain Luis F. Emilio, the highest-ranking officer of the 54th not to be killed or wounded at Fort Wagner, published a book, A Brave Black Regiment. He wrote: "It is due, however, to the following-named enlisted men that they be recorded above their fellows for especial merit: [1st] Sgt. Robert J. Simmons, [Col.] Sgt. William H. Carney..."
In this case, "Col." stood for "Colored," not "Colonel." Simmons was also black, a native of Bermuda, then as now a "British Overseas Territory," where he served in the British Army, before moving to Massachusetts and joining the 54th. He, too was wounded at Fort Wagner, and wasn't so lucky, dying the following month, at the age of 26.
Race may not have been the only reason his Medal of Honor was so delayed: More than half of such awards from the Civil War were presented 20 or more years after the fact). His citation reads:
When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.
Three years before, on May 31, 1897, the Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment, a bronze relief sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, was dedicated across Beacon Street from the State House, in honor of the troops and their white commanding officer, Colonel Shaw, who was killed in the assault on Fort Wagner.
On December 9, 1908, Carney died at Boston City Hospital, as the result of injuries sustained in an elevator accident at the State House. He was 68.
In 1989, the film Glory was released, starring Matthew Broderick as Shaw, and Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher as soldiers under his command. It was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, winning 2, including Best Supporting Actor for Washington. Although neither Carney nor Simmons was used as a character, the title came from a letter that Simmons wrote before he died.
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May 23, 1900 was a Wednesday. The National League was down to 8 teams, after eliminating the teams then using the names of the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Spiders, the Louisville Colonels and the Washington Senators. And the American League was working its way up to major league status. These NL games were played that day:
* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 15-4 at League Park in Cincinnati.
* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-5 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Jack Chesbro outpitched Harry Howell. In 1903, they would be teammates on the 1st-year New York Highlanders, the team that was renamed the Yankees in 1913.
The Brooklyn team was managed by Ned Hanlon, and that reminded someone of a popular circus troupe of the time, Hanlon's Superbas. By 1911, they were the Dodgers.
* The Chicago Orphans beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. Clark Griffith was the winning pitcher. The next year, still pitching, he became the 1st manager of the American League's Chicago White Sox, leading them to the AL's 1st Pennant. In 1903, still pitching, he became the 1st manager of the Highlanders/Yankees. In 1912, he took over as pitcher, manager and owner of the Washington Senators, retiring as a player after the 1914 season, and as manager after 1920. He owned the team until his death in 1955.
The Chicago NL team was known as the "Orphans" because, as he got older, Adrian "Cap" Anson was re-nicknamed "Pop," and, since he retired in 1897, the team "missed their Pop." They became the Cubs in 1903.
* And the Boston Beaneaters beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at League Park, later renamed Robison Field (not "Robinson") in St. Louis. Bill Dinneen outpitched Cy Young. In 1902, they would be teammates on the Boston Americans, winning the 1st World Series in 1903 and another AL Pennant the next season.
By 1912, after going through several nicknames, the Boston team of the NL became the Braves, which they have remained through their Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta tenures.
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