Thomas Harding (sailor)

Last updated
Thomas Harding
Born1837
Middletown, Connecticut
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Navy
Rank Captain of the forecastle
Unit Template:Country data Unites States Navy USS Dacotah
Battles/wars American Civil War
Awards Medal of Honor

Thomas Harding (born 1837, date of death unknown) was a Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for attempting to save an officer from drowning.

Contents

Harding was born in 1837 in Middletown, Connecticut. He served during the Civil War as a captain of the forecastle on the USS Dacotah. [1] [2] On June 9, 1864, the blockade runner Pevensey was chased down, run aground near Beaufort, North Carolina, and suffered a boiler explosion. Harding and others took a small boat from Dacotah to Pevensey and loaded it with some of the blockade runner's cargo of arms and uniforms. While returning to Dacotah through heavy surf, the small boat began to take on water and sank. Harding tried to help an officer who could not swim, Acting Master's Mate Jarvis G. Farrar, but was unsuccessful and Farrar drowned. [3] For this attempt, Harding was awarded the Medal of Honor six months later on December 31, 1864. [1] [2]

Harding's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

Served as captain of the forecastle on board the U.S.S. Dacotah on the occasion of the destruction of the blockade runner Pevensey, near Beauford[ sic ], N.C., 9 June 1864. "Learning that one of the officers in the boat, which was in danger of being, and subsequently was, swamped, could not swim, Harding remarked to him: 'If we are swamped, sir, I shall carry you to the beach or I will never go there myself.' He did not succeed in carrying out his promise, but made desperate efforts to do so, while others thought only of themselves. Such conduct is worthy of appreciation and admiration--a sailor risking his own life to save that of an officer." [2]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Thomas Harding". Hall of Valor. Military Times . Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Medal of Honor Recipients: Civil War (G–L)". United States Army Center of Military History. May 7, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  3. S. S. Pevensey (PDF), Surface Interval Diving Company, pp. 11–12, retrieved March 22, 2016

Related Research Articles

The first USS Rhode Island was a side-wheel steamer in the United States Navy, commissioned in 1861.

Nehemiah Dyer United States Navy admiral

Nehemiah Mayo Dyer was a Rear Admiral in United States Navy, who served during the American Civil War and Spanish–American War. He was one of the few individuals to have served in both the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War and the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War.

USS <i>Metacomet</i> (1863)

The second USS Metacomet was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was named for Metacomet, a war chief of the Wampanoag Indians.

John McFarland (Medal of Honor) United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient

John C. McFarland was a sailor in the United States Navy and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the American Civil War.

USS Dacotah (1859) — the only United States Navy ship to be so named — was a large steam sloop that served the United States Navy in the Atlantic Ocean as well as in Pacific Ocean. When the American Civil War occurred, Dacotah assumed the role of a gunboat in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.

USS <i>Gettysburg</i> (1858)

The first USS Gettysburg was a steamer in the Union Navy.

USS <i>Monadnock</i> (1863)

The first USS Monadnock, a twin‑screw, wooden‑hull, double-turreted, ironclad monitor was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1862. The vessel was launched on 23 March 1863; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 4 October 1864, Captain John M. Berrien in command. It was named after Mount Monadnock, a mountain in southern New Hampshire.

Union Navy United States Navy during the American Civil War

The Union Navy was the United States Navy (USN) during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy (CSN). The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were under the control of the United States Army, also called the Union Army.

USS <i>Pontoosuc</i>

USS Pontoosuc was a Union Navy vessel in the American Civil War. A side wheel gunboat, Pontoosuc was built under contract with G. W. Lawrence and the Portland Company, Portland, Maine, and was named for Pontoosuc, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. She was commissioned at Portland on 10 May 1864 with Lieutenant Commander George A. Stevens in command.

James Avery was an American Civil War Union Navy sailor who received the Medal of Honor while serving aboard USS Metacomet.

John Harris (Medal of Honor) American Civil War sailor and Medal of Honor recipient

John Harris was a Union Navy sailor who received the Medal of Honor for his service on USS Metacomet in Mobile Bay during the American Civil War.

Mark G. Ham United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient

Mark G. Ham was an American sailor who received the Medal of Honor for valor in action during the American Civil War.

George H. Harrison United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient

George H. Harrison was an American sailor who received the Medal of Honor for valor in action during the American Civil War.

Thomas Harcourt (Medal of Honor) United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient

Thomas Harcourt was a U.S. sailor stationed aboard the USS Minnesota during the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865.

Edmund Haffee Union Navy Medal of Honor recipients

Edmund Haffee was a sailor in the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865.

Hugh Hamilton (sailor) United States Navy sailor and Medal of Honor recipient

Hugh Hamilton was a Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Mobile Bay.

William Halstead Sr.(February 9, 1837 – July 25, 1916) Enlisted: Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Charles Baker (Medal of Honor) United States Navy sailor and Medal of Honor recipient

Charles Baker, also known as Henry Baker, was a Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Allexander Hand (1836-?) was a quartermaster in the US Navy for the Union during the American Civil War that received the Medal of Honor. Prior to the Civil War, he resided in Delaware. During the Civil War, while serving aboard the USS Ceres, in a fight near Hamilton on the Roanoke River, Hand was fired upon by the enemy with small arms, and "courageously returned the raking enemy fire." His commanding officer later spoke for his "good conduct and cool bravery under enemy fire," which led to him receiving the Medal of Honor.

Bernard Harley

Bernard Harley was an Ordinary Seaman in the Union Navy during the American Civil War, where he earned the Medal of Honor. He was born in 1842, in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York. While aboard the U.S. Picket Boat No. 1, on October 27, 1864, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism in action near Plymouth, North Carolina. The Confederate ram Albemarle had resisted many previous attacks, but Harley and his picket boat, equipped with a spar torpedo, succeeded in passing the enemy pickets. They were then able to destroy the Ablemarle. The picket boat was destroyed by enemy fire, and almost the entire crew was taken prisoner or lost. This included Harley, who was taken as a prisoner of war.

References