Wilson Brown (Medal of Honor recipient)

Infobox Military Person
name=Wilson Brown
born= 1841
died= January 24 death year and age|1900|1841
placeofbirth=Natchez, Mississippi
placeofdeath=
placeofburial=


caption= Wilson Brown, Medal of Honor recipient
nickname=
allegiance=United States of America
branch=Union Navy
serviceyears=
rank=Landsman
commands=
unit=USS "Hartford"
battles=American Civil War *Battle of Mobile Bay
awards=Medal of Honor
laterwork=

Wilson Brown (1841 – January 24 1900) was a Union Navy sailor during the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

Biography

Brown was born in 1841 at Natchez, Mississippi, and enlisted in the Navy from along the Mississippi River in his home state. He was assigned as a landsman to the USS "Hartford", the flagship of Rear Admiral David Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron.Hanna, pp. 21-22]

On August 5 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay, Admiral Farragut led a squadron of eighteen Union ships, including the "Hartford", into the Confederate-held Mobile Bay. As the squadron came under fire from Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines, and Confederate ships, Brown and five other sailors worked on the "Hartford's" berth deck loading and operating the shell whip, a device which lifted boxes of gunpowder up to the gun deck. As they worked, a Confederate shell exploded in their midst. Brown was blown through a hatch and landed unconscious on the deck below; the dead body of another man landed on top of him. The only other of the six men to survive was Landsman John Lawson, who was thrown against a bulkhead and momentarily stunned. Although wounded in the leg, Lawson refused medical treatment and returned to working the shell whip. After regaining consciousness, Brown did the same. The two men continued in their duties, keeping the ship's guns supplied with powder, through the remainder of the battle. For these actions, both Brown and Lawson were awarded the Medal of Honor four months later, on December 31 1864. [http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (A-L)] ]

Brown died on January 24 1900 at age 58 or 59 and was buried at Natchez National Cemetery in his birth city of Natchez, Mississippi.

Medal of Honor citation

Landsman Brown's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

:On board the flagship U.S.S. "Hartford" during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats and the ram "Tennessee" in Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864. Knocked unconscious into the hold of the ship when an enemy shellburst fatally wounded a man on the ladder above him, Brown, upon regaining consciousness, promptly returned to the shell whip on the berth deck and zealously continued to perform his duties although 4 of the 6 men at this station had been either killed or wounded by the enemy's terrific fire.

ee also

*List of Medal of Honor recipients
*

Notes

References

*cite web
publisher = U.S. Army Center of Military History
title = Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (A-L)
work = Medal of Honor Citations
date = 2005-04-27
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/html/moh/civwaral.html
accessdate = 2007-01-15

*cite book
last = Hanna
first = Charles W.
title = African American recipients of the Medal of Honor: a biographical dictionary, Civil War through Vietnam War
publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
year = 2002
location = Jefferson, North Carolina
pages = pp. 21-22
isbn = 0-7864-1355-7

External links

*findagrave|7416474

Persondata
NAME= Brown, Wilson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=