Benjamin Franklin Falls

He Captured a Flag but Never Lived to See His Medal

Benjamin Frank Falls was born on July 1, 1824, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He became a Union Army soldier whose courage during the Battle of Gettysburg earned him the Medal of Honor. Serving with Company A of the 19th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Falls distinguished himself on July 3, 1863, by capturing a Confederate battle flag during one of the most decisive engagements of the American Civil War.

Before entering military service, Falls lived in Lynn, Massachusetts. When the Civil War began in April 1861, the Union called for volunteers to defend the nation and suppress the Confederate rebellion. Falls responded by enlisting in the Union Army in August 1861.

On August 28, 1861, he was mustered into Company A of the 19th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as a private. The regiment subsequently joined the Army of the Potomac and participated in military campaigns across the Eastern Theater.

The 19th Massachusetts served in operations that included the Peninsula Campaign and the fighting around Antietam and Fredericksburg. These campaigns exposed the regiment to the increasingly destructive nature of Civil War infantry combat.

By the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, Falls held the rank of Color Sergeant, a position associated with carrying and protecting the regimental colors during military operations.

Regimental flags were essential to Civil War armies. They identified military formations, provided rallying points during battle, and represented the honor and identity of each regiment. Soldiers assigned to carry these colors faced particular danger because the flags were highly visible amid the fighting.

On July 3, 1863, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate forces launched a massive infantry assault against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. The attack became known as Pickett's Charge and developed into one of the most famous confrontations of the Civil War.

The 19th Massachusetts Infantry participated in the Union defense as Confederate soldiers advanced toward the Federal positions. Intense musketry and artillery fire swept the battlefield, and soldiers from both armies fought near the Union defensive line.

During the fighting, Falls captured a Confederate battle flag.

His action took place amid the repulse of the Confederate assault, when Union soldiers confronted attacking troops near their defensive positions. Falls secured an enemy flag, an achievement that carried considerable military significance during the Civil War.

The capture became the defining act of his service and was later recognized with the Medal of Honor.

Falls's official citation was remarkably brief: "Capture of flag."

Although the citation contained only a few words, it recognized an act of battlefield courage performed during one of the war's most consequential engagements. His actions placed him among the Union soldiers whose capture of enemy colors at Gettysburg received national military recognition.

Following Gettysburg, Falls continued serving with the 19th Massachusetts Infantry. The regiment remained active with the Army of the Potomac as Union operations against Confederate forces continued.

In the spring of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant launched the Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The campaign involved a series of devastating engagements, including the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House.

During the fighting around Spotsylvania in May 1864, Falls suffered a mortal wound.

He died on May 12, 1864, at the age of thirty-nine, nearly ten months after the action at Gettysburg that would earn him the nation's highest military decoration.

Falls did not live to receive the Medal of Honor.

On December 1, 1864, the United States awarded him the Army Medal of Honor posthumously for his bravery at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

The decoration recognized his capture of a Confederate flag while serving as Color Sergeant of Company A, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. His award became part of the early history of the Army Medal of Honor, which Congress had authorized during the Civil War to recognize extraordinary military conduct.

Following his death, Falls was laid to rest at Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn, Massachusetts, the community from which he had entered Union military service.

His grave preserves the memory of a soldier who served during some of the Civil War's most difficult campaigns and lost his life before receiving formal recognition for his bravery.

Benjamin Frank Falls's legacy is closely associated with the Battle of Gettysburg and the defense of the Union position against the Confederate assault of July 3, 1863.

As a Color Sergeant of the 19th Massachusetts Infantry, he captured an enemy battle flag during the fighting, an act that earned him the Medal of Honor. Less than a year later, he suffered a fatal wound during the Overland Campaign.

Although he never witnessed the presentation of his decoration, his courage was permanently recognized through the Medal of Honor, securing his place among the honored Union soldiers of the American Civil War.