Alfred Ramsbottom

On 30 November 1864 at Franklin, Tennessee, First Sergeant Alfred Ramsbottom fought hand to hand with a Confederate color bearer and captured the enemy flag. The act was brief, violent and decisive, and it became the foundation of his Medal of Honor citation.

Ramsbottom served in Company K, 97th Ohio Infantry. Official records identify his birthplace as Delaware County, Ohio, although later accounts use the spelling Ransbottom and give differing biographical details. The regiment was part of the Union forces operating in Tennessee during the closing campaigns of the Civil War.

The published citation states that Ramsbottom captured the flag of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry in close combat. Modern unit-history research has questioned that unit designation, because the 2nd Mississippi was not present at Franklin. The flag may instead have belonged to a consolidated Missouri unit in the same sector. The Medal of Honor record itself should be preserved exactly, while the unit discrepancy is noted for researchers.

Ramsbottom received the Medal of Honor on 24 February 1865. He survived the war and later records place his death in Ohio in 1893, but the surviving sources disagree on the precise date and burial details. What remains certain is the act at Franklin: a Union first sergeant closing with an enemy color bearer and taking the flag in the middle of the fight.

Sources: U.S. Army Center of Military History, Civil War Medal of Honor records Congressional Medal of Honor Society recipient record Civil War Talk discussion of the Franklin flag identification