Alfred B. Hilton

Alfred B. Hilton went into battle carrying one flag and pressed on carrying two. When the bearer of his regiment's colours fell at New Market Heights, Hilton took up that flag as well as the national standard already in his hands. He carried both towards the Confederate defences until he was struck down.

Born in Harford County, Maryland, with his birth year recorded as 1842 by the National Park Service and Medal of Honor Society, Hilton worked as a farmer before joining the Union Army. He enlisted in Baltimore on 11 August 1863, aged about twenty-one, and served in Company H of the 4th United States Colored Infantry. By the following September he was a sergeant, entrusted with the national colours.

His defining action came on 29 September 1864 at New Market Heights, part of the fighting at Chaffin's Farm outside Richmond, Virginia. The Medal of Honor citation credits him with seizing the fallen regimental flag and advancing with both standards until a severe wound disabled him at the enemy's inner line. A contemporary order from Major General Benjamin Butler singled out his determination to protect the colours even after he had fallen.

Hilton was taken to hospital at Fort Monroe, where his right leg was amputated below the knee. He died of his wounds on 21 October 1864, before the war ended and before the nation's highest military decoration could reach him. His Medal of Honor was issued posthumously on 6 April 1865.

Buried in Hampton National Cemetery, Virginia, Hilton left no long postwar career. His surviving record instead follows a young farmer into military service and to the moment when he accepted the burden of a second flag under fire.

Sources: National Park Service, “Hilton, Alfred B.”, including Butler's contemporary order: https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/hilton.htm Congressional Medal of Honor Society: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/alfred-b-hilton