Bartlett Laffey

Bartlett Laffey was an Irish-born sailor whose courage during the American Civil War earned him the Medal of Honor and later caused two United States Navy destroyers to bear his name. Born in County Galway, Ireland, around 1841, he was the son of John and Bridget Laffey and belonged to a large Irish family. Congressional Medal of Honor Society archival research indicates that he was christened Bartholomew, although his widow later testified that he was known in everyday life as Bartlett. Historical documents also occasionally spelled his surname “Laffy.” Congressional Medal of Honor Society The precise date on which the Laffey family immigrated to the United States has not been established. Evidence cited by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society indicates that the family was still in Ireland as late as 1852, when Bartlett's younger brother Dominick was born. By the years preceding the Civil War, however, Bartlett was living in Massachusetts. Like his father and several of his brothers, he appears to have been connected with maritime work, making service in the Navy a natural extension of his civilian background. Congressional Medal of Honor Society On March 17, 1862, with the Civil War already nearly a year old, Laffey enlisted in the United States Navy at Boston, Massachusetts. His enlistment papers recorded South Reading as his residence and described him as having blue eyes and light-brown hair. During approximately three years of wartime naval service, he served aboard several vessels, including USS Louisville, USS Marmora, and USS General Price. Congressional Medal of Honor Society Laffey served primarily in the western riverine theater, where the Union Navy operated gunboats on the Mississippi River system and its tributaries. Unlike the great fleet battles fought at sea, this form of naval warfare often placed sailors extremely close to the land campaign. Gunboats bombarded Confederate positions, supported Army troops, patrolled rivers, escorted expeditions, and sometimes sent their own sailors and artillery pieces ashore to fight alongside soldiers. One of the vessels associated most closely with Laffey's service was USS Marmora, a stern-wheel gunboat commonly classified among the Union's “tinclads.” Marmora had already taken part in significant operations on the Yazoo River and around Vicksburg. The National Park Service records that the gunboat participated in actions connected with Chickasaw Bayou, Fort Hindman, and the Meridian Campaign before playing a critical role at Yazoo City in March 1864. National Park Service The defining event of Bartlett Laffey's military career occurred on March 5, 1864, at Yazoo City, Mississippi. Confederate forces launched a determined attack against Union positions around the town. USS Marmora supported the hard-pressed Federal troops from the river, but naval fire from the ship alone was not enough. A 12-pound naval howitzer was therefore removed from the gunboat, mounted on a field carriage, and taken ashore so that its crew could engage the attackers directly from the streets of Yazoo City. National Park Service Laffey, then serving as a Seaman, went ashore with the gun crew. His comrades included sailors William J. Franks and James Stoddard, both of whom would also receive the Medal of Honor for their conduct in the same action. Once positioned ashore, the small naval gun crew found itself exposed to intense Confederate rifle fire. Congressional Medal of Honor Society The enemy fire became so severe that bullets struck and damaged the howitzer's equipment. Laffey's official citation records that the gun carriage and rammer were hit, yet he continued to stand by the weapon rather than abandoning the position. The sailors maintained the gun in action while Confederate forces pressed the Union defenses, and their resistance materially contributed to the repulse of the attack. Congressional Medal of Honor Society The importance of their stand was not simply that they continued firing. A field-mounted naval howitzer required a small crew to remain close together around a highly visible weapon. Once the gun's carriage and equipment began taking direct hits, continuing to operate it exposed each sailor to concentrated rifle fire. Laffey nevertheless stayed with the piece throughout the engagement. The National Park Service credits Marmora's 12-pound howitzer with making a vital contribution to the Union defense and specifically identifies Laffey, Franks, and Stoddard as the three members of its gun crew who received the Medal of Honor for their actions that day. National Park Service The Medal of Honor action is unusual in Laffey's story because, although he was a United States Navy sailor, his most celebrated act took place ashore. He was not standing on the deck of a warship during the deed for which he became famous. Instead, he was operating naval artillery on land in direct support of Union forces defending Yazoo City. Recognition followed rapidly. General Order No. 32, dated April 16, 1864, recorded Laffey among the sailors recognized for their gallantry. Historical Navy Medal of Honor rolls describe him as a Seaman during the action and record his subsequent advancement to Acting Master's Mate. Modern Congressional Medal of Honor Society records therefore preserve the distinction as Rank: Seaman; Highest Rank: Acting Master's Mate. Wikimedia Commons Laffey's Medal of Honor was not posthumous. The decoration recognized his conduct at Yazoo City while he was still an active Civil War sailor. For the project's historical ribbon system, his decoration belongs to the early Navy Medal of Honor period and should carry no modern V device or other unsupported device. His naval service continued beyond the single engagement that made him famous. CMOHS archival research indicates that Laffey spent approximately three years in the Navy and served aboard multiple vessels. This broader service is important because his Medal of Honor action was one episode within a sustained wartime naval career rather than his only period of military duty. Congressional Medal of Honor Society After the Civil War, Laffey returned to the Boston area, where he spent the remainder of his life. On October 18, 1868, he married Maria Cady, another Irish immigrant. The couple had seven children, although only three daughters survived into adulthood. The surviving family records used by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society provide a much fuller picture of Laffey's postwar life than older short-form Medal of Honor biographies, which often ended with the 1864 action. Congressional Medal of Honor Society In his later years, Laffey experienced serious health problems, including neurological illness. He eventually entered the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Chelsea, Massachusetts, where he died on March 22, 1901. He was buried in Old Calvary Cemetery in the Boston area. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society records his burial there and preserves him among the Irish-born recipients of the Medal of Honor. Congressional Medal of Honor Society His death did not end the Navy's association with his name. During the Second World War, the United States Navy named the destroyer USS Laffey (DD-459) in his honor. Commissioned in 1942, the destroyer fought in the Pacific before being lost during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November of that year. The Navy subsequently gave Laffey's name to a second destroyer, USS Laffey (DD-724), commissioned in 1944. Laffey's daughter Beatrice served as sponsor of the second ship. Naval History and Heritage Command That second USS Laffey developed an extraordinary combat record of its own. It served during the Normandy campaign in Europe before transferring to the Pacific, where it survived an exceptionally severe Japanese kamikaze attack off Okinawa in April 1945. Its survival earned it the enduring nickname “The Ship That Would Not Die.” It later served during the Korean War and remained in commission until 1975. Today it survives as a museum ship at Patriots Point in South Carolina. Naval History and Heritage Command Thus Bartlett Laffey's legacy eventually extended far beyond the streets of Yazoo City. He began life in Galway, emigrated to the United States, entered the Navy during the Civil War, and served as an enlisted sailor in the difficult river campaigns of the western theater. On March 5, 1864, he left the relative protection of a Union gunboat, helped take a naval howitzer ashore, and remained at the weapon despite concentrated enemy rifle fire severe enough to damage its equipment. That act earned him the Medal of Honor. His later advancement to Acting Master's Mate, his postwar life in Massachusetts, and the naming of two U.S. Navy destroyers in his honor transformed a Civil War sailor's individual act of courage into a lasting part of American naval heritage. More than a century after his death, the surviving USS Laffey continues to preserve the name of the Irish-born Seaman whose courage at Yazoo City first gave that name its place in United States Navy history.