Richard W. DeWitt

Richard W. DeWitt
DeWitt in 1905
Born	(1838-06-25)June 25, 1838 Butler County, Ohio
Died	September 16, 1909(1909-09-16) (aged 71) Oxford, Ohio
Place of burial	Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, Ohio
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Rank	Corporal
Unit	47th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Company D
Battles/wars	American Civil War  • Siege of Vicksburg
Awards	Medal of Honor

Richard Willis DeWitt (June 25, 1838 – September 16, 1909) was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Siege of Vicksburg on May 22, 1863.

Union assault

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.

Medal of Honor citation

For gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863.

See also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients
• List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F
• Battle of Vicksburg
• 47th Ohio Infantry

References

• Brown, Theodore F. (1909). Marching Through Georgia with Sherman from Atlanta to the Sea: Address Delivered at the Twenty-Third Annual Reunion of the Forty-Seventh Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry at Geo. H. Thomas Post Hall, Cincinnati September 28, 1909. West Alexandria, OH: Louis Mund. hdl:2027/mdp.39015065336573. OCLC 301205250.
• Dyer, Frederick H (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co. ASIN B01BUFJ76Q.
• Reid, Whitelaw (1868a). The History of the State During the War, and the Lives of Her Generals. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers. Vol. I. Cincinnati, OH: Moore, Wilstach, & Baldwin. p. 1112. ISBN 9781154801965. OCLC 11632330.
• Reid, Whitelaw (1868b). The History of Her Regiments, and Other Military Organizations. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers. Vol. II. Cincinnati, OH: Moore, Wilstach, & Baldwin. p. 1002. ISBN 9781154801965. OCLC 11632330.
• Roster Commission, Ohio (1886). Three Year's Service — 37th–53rd Regiments-Infantry. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865. Vol. IV. Akron, OH: The Werner Ptg. and Mfg. Co. p. 846. OCLC 181357575.
• Saunier, Joseph A (1903). A History of the Forty-Seventh Regiment, Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry: Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, Army of Tennessee. Hillsboro, OH: Press of the Lyle Printing Company.
• Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (1968). Edward M Kennedy, Chairman (ed.). Medal of Honor, 1863-1968 : "In the Name of the Congress of the United States". Committee print (United States. Congress), 90th Congress, 2nd session. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1087. OCLC 1049691780.
• "Hall of Valor: The Military Medals Database". The Hall of Valor Project. Sightline Media Group. 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
• "MOHs - victoriacross". THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE VICTORIA & GEORGE CROSS. VCOnline. 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
• "CMOHS.org - Official Website of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. CMOHS. 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
• "Home - The National Medal of Honor Museum The National Medal of Honor Museum". The National Medal of Honor Museum. The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation. 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
• War Department, U.S. (1880). The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 857196196.

External links

• "Richard W. DeWitt". Claim to Fame: Medal of Honor recipients. Find a Grave. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
• A Forlorn Hope
• Vicksburg Medal of Honor Recipients
• Ohio Medal of Honor Recipients