Adam Duncan

What does courage look like when enemy fire is tearing across the deck and men are falling around you?

For Boatswain’s Mate Adam Duncan, courage meant remaining at his gun. During the Battle of Mobile Bay, one of the American Civil War’s fiercest naval engagements, Duncan continued fighting with skill and determination while USS Richmond came under devastating Confederate fire.

Born in 1833 in Sullivan, Maine, Adam Duncan entered the United States Navy and was credited to Boston, Massachusetts. By the Civil War, he had risen to the experienced enlisted rank of boatswain’s mate, a position that demanded seamanship, discipline, and leadership aboard a warship.

Duncan served aboard USS Richmond, a steam-powered sloop of war assigned to the Union campaign against Confederate positions along the Gulf Coast. On 5 August 1864, Richmond joined Rear Admiral David Farragut’s fleet in its attempt to force an entrance into Mobile Bay, Alabama. The Union ships faced Confederate forts, gunboats, underwater mines, and the powerful ironclad ram CSS Tennessee.

As the fleet advanced, Confederate fire swept across the decks of Richmond. Duncan served as captain of one of the ship’s guns, placing him directly responsible for keeping the weapon operating during the battle. Even after the ship was damaged and several members of the crew were lost, he remained at his station.

His official Medal of Honor citation records that Duncan “fought his gun with skill and courage” throughout the prolonged engagement. His conduct helped sustain Richmond’s fire during the attacks against the Confederate forts and gunboats, as well as the close fighting with CSS Tennessee.

The struggle inside Mobile Bay was relentless. Union warships surrounded and attacked the Confederate ironclad until CSS Tennessee was forced to surrender. The Union fleet also carried out successful operations against Fort Morgan, weakening one of the Confederacy’s final major positions on the Gulf of Mexico.

For his courage during the battle, Boatswain’s Mate Adam Duncan received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration of the United States. His award recognized not a single dramatic movement, but something equally demanding: the discipline to remain at his gun and continue fighting while enemy fire raked the ship around him. The Navy officially lists Duncan among its Civil War Medal of Honor recipients for service aboard USS Richmond at Mobile Bay.

Duncan’s service is also associated with the Navy Civil War Medal, a campaign medal created decades after the conflict to recognize qualifying naval service during the Civil War. It represents his participation in the wider struggle, while the Medal of Honor records the specific courage he displayed at Mobile Bay.

Much of Adam Duncan’s later life remains undocumented, and his date of death has not been established in the available official record. What survives most clearly is the account of his conduct on 5 August 1864. In the smoke and violence of battle, he did not abandon his station. He continued loading, aiming, and firing while the outcome remained uncertain.

Adam Duncan was more than a sailor aboard a famous warship. He was a disciplined gun captain, a trusted boatswain’s mate, and a Medal of Honor recipient whose courage helped carry the Union fleet through one of the Civil War’s defining naval battles.

When the decks were struck by enemy fire and the crew suffered losses, Adam Duncan remained at his gun. That steadfast courage is his enduring legacy.