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The Medal of Honor

Charles Wellington Reed received the Medal of Honor in 1895 for gallantry in action on July 2, 1863, during the battle of Gettysburg. Despite sustained firing on his position near the Trostle farm, Reed mounted his horse and led to safety another mount carrying the wounded Captain John Bigelow, thereby saving Bigelow's life. In June 1895, John Bigelow wrote to the adjutant general of the United States, recommending Reed for the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. Eyewitness testimony corroborated Bigelow's account of events, and the secretary of war approved the nomination in August 1895. Why Reed received the Medal of Honor over thirty years after the fact, and why the Charles Wellington Reed Papers contain two different Medals of Honor is explained by the early history of the Medal of Honor itself.

Often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor because it is awarded in the name of Congress, the Medal of Honor was first awarded during the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War, the federal government conferred various badges, medals and certificates for meritorious military service, but only a limited number of military personnel received such honors. Furthermore, the types of awards given often did not provide the serviceman with a way to display the honor in public. During the Civil War, efforts by Senator James Grimes and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to inspire sailors to valorous service led to the creation of the Medal of Honor in December 1861. Legislation authorizing a similar medal for soldiers in the army followed in 1862. The United States federal government issued more than 1,500 Medals of Honor for meritorious service in the United States Army and Navy during the Civil War, the majority of those recipients having served in the army.

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