Charles Day

The Fallen Flag Bearer and a Soldier's Defiant Courage

Charles Day was an American Union Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary courage during the American Civil War. Serving as a private in Company K of the 210th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Day distinguished himself at the Battle of Hatcher's Run, Virginia, on February 6, 1865. When another regiment in his brigade fell into confusion after its color bearer was killed, Day seized the fallen colors and carried them throughout the remainder of the engagement. His actions earned him the nation's highest military decoration more than three decades later.

Born on May 28, 1844, in West Laurens, Otsego County, New York, Day grew up during a period of increasing national division over slavery and the future of the United States. The surviving biographical records provide limited information about his childhood, education, and family circumstances. His documented military history establishes that he eventually entered Union service with the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War.

Day served in Company K as a private. The 210th Pennsylvania Infantry was organized in 1864 and served with the Union Army during the final campaigns against Confederate forces in Virginia. By early February 1865, the regiment was involved in operations around Petersburg, where Union forces continued their efforts to weaken Confederate defensive positions and disrupt supply routes.

On February 6, 1865, Day participated in the Battle of Hatcher's Run, an engagement fought southwest of Petersburg, Virginia. During the battle, Union and Confederate troops clashed as Federal forces attempted to extend their positions and threaten Confederate communications. The fighting created dangerous and confusing conditions for the soldiers engaged along the battlefield.

It was during this engagement that Day performed the act of bravery for which he would eventually receive the Medal of Honor.

According to his official citation, another regiment within his brigade had been thrown into confusion after its color bearer was killed. With the soldier responsible for carrying the regiment's flag fallen, the colors were left without their bearer at a critical moment in the fighting.

Day responded by seizing the colors of the other regiment and carrying them for the remainder of the engagement. Although he belonged to Company K of the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry, he took responsibility for the flag of a different regiment within the same brigade.

Regimental colors played an important role in Civil War combat. They identified military units on the battlefield and provided a visible point around which soldiers could maintain their organization. Losing a color bearer during an engagement could therefore create additional difficulties for troops already facing enemy fire.

Day's actions ensured that the fallen color bearer’s responsibility was taken up and that the regiment's colors continued to be carried during the battle. His Medal of Honor recognition was based specifically on this decision and his continued performance throughout the engagement.

The official citation identifies his achievement as seizing the colors of another regiment after its color bearer had been killed and bearing them throughout the remainder of the fighting. This documented act, rather than any unsupported account of additional battlefield achievements, forms the foundation of his military distinction.

More than thirty-two years after the Battle of Hatcher's Run, Charles Day received the Medal of Honor on July 20, 1897. The award formally recognized the courage he had demonstrated on February 6, 1865, during the closing months of the American Civil War.

Day's documented military rank was private, and his service with Company K of the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry remains the principal military assignment identified in his Medal of Honor record. Further details concerning his individual assignments after the battle, the precise circumstances of his discharge, and his civilian occupation following the war are not established in the available recipient biography.

Charles Day died on July 29, 1901, in Lambs Creek, Pennsylvania, at the age of 57. He was buried in Prospect Cemetery in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, where his grave preserves the memory of his military service and Medal of Honor recognition.

Day's legacy is closely connected to the importance of regimental colors during the Civil War and to the individual courage required to carry them during combat. At Hatcher's Run, he acted when another regiment's color bearer had fallen, taking up the flag and continuing to carry it despite the dangers of the engagement.

His actions on February 6, 1865, earned him a permanent place among the Medal of Honor recipients of the American Civil War. Charles Day is remembered for a documented act of battlefield bravery in which an ordinary Union private assumed a fallen soldier's responsibility and carried another regiment's colors through the remainder of the fight.