Alexander Mack

A first wound took Alexander Mack away from his gun at Mobile Bay. It did not keep him there. After going below for treatment, he returned to his station aboard USS Brooklyn and resumed the fight, remaining at his gun until a second wound put him out of action.

Mack was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on 17 May 1834, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. His award was accredited to New York. Little is established about his early life; by August 1864 he was serving in the Union Navy as a captain of the top aboard Brooklyn.

On 5 August 1864, Brooklyn attacked the Confederate defences of Mobile Bay, Alabama. His Medal of Honor citation describes his return to duty under fire from Fort Morgan, Confederate gunboats and the ironclad Tennessee.

The Navy announced his Medal of Honor in General Order No. 45 on 31 December 1864. Its official award register praised his courage and the activity, zeal and skill he displayed while handling his gun, recording that he was severely wounded.

Mack survived the war and died in New London, Connecticut, in September 1907. He was buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Sources: Congressional Medal of Honor Society: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/alexander-mack U.S. Navy, Record of Medals of Honor, 1862–1923 (1924), Alexander Mack entry: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45900/45900-h/45900-h.htm