Charles Day

Private Charles Day MOH

Charles Day was born on 28 May 1844 at West Laurens, New York. During the American Civil War, he served as a private in Company K, 210th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Union Army.

Day’s regiment served during the final stages of the war in Virginia, when Union forces were pressing the Confederate lines around Petersburg. On 6 February 1865, during the Battle of Hatcher’s Run, the 210th Pennsylvania was engaged in heavy fighting.

In the confusion of battle, another regiment of the brigade was thrown into disorder after its color bearer was killed. The regimental colors were more than a marker on the battlefield: they were the rallying point of the regiment and a symbol of its honour. To lose them in action could deepen confusion and damage morale.

Private Day seized the fallen colors and carried them through the remainder of the engagement. His action helped preserve order and spirit at a dangerous moment in the fight.

For this act of courage, Charles Day was awarded the Medal of Honor. His award was issued on 20 July 1897, more than thirty-two years after the action at Hatcher’s Run.

Charles Day died in 1901 and was buried in Prospect Cemetery, Mansfield, Pennsylvania.

His Medal of Honor citation reads:

“Seized the colors of another regiment of the brigade, the regiment having been thrown into confusion and the color bearer killed, and bore said colors throughout the remainder of the engagement.”

Private Charles Day’s heroism was the kind often seen in Civil War fighting: not a long formal command decision, but a single decisive act under fire, taken at the moment when a regiment’s courage and cohesion were at risk.