Abraham Greenawalt

Abraham Greenawalt was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1834. A county history published during his lifetime gives his birth date as 23 February and records his family's move to Ohio in 1835. He grew up near Washingtonville, attended a district school and helped on the family farm before learning the bricklayer's trade.

In August 1862, Greenawalt enlisted in Company G of the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served as a private. At Franklin, Tennessee, on 30 November 1864, he captured a Confederate corps headquarters flag. His Medal of Honor citation states: “Capture of corps headquarters flag (C.S.A.).” The award was issued on 13 February 1865.

Greenawalt was honorably discharged at Greensboro, North Carolina, in June 1865. After a short stay in Salem, Ohio, he settled on a farm he bought in Smith Township in 1866. His postwar life included public service as a township trustee and assessor. He moved to Damascus in 1892 and became a justice of the peace in 1903.

Greenawalt lived for more than half a century after the war. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society records his death as 27 October 1922 and his burial in Alliance City Cemetery, Ohio. The Society identifies the Alliance Historical Society as the location of his Medal of Honor, preserving a connection between his wartime service and the Ohio communities where he spent his civilian life.

Sources: Congressional Medal of Honor Society, https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/abraham-greenawalt ; Thomas W. Sanderson, Twentieth Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County (1907), Abraham Greenawalt biography, https://prodstorageroster.blob.core.windows.net/documents/9572/Greenwalt_Abraham_104OH_Book_9572.pdf .