Charles E. Phelps

Charles Edward Phelps — Detailed Biography Charles Edward Phelps was an American lawyer, Union Army officer, Medal of Honor recipient, congressman, legal educator, and judge whose life combined distinguished military service with a long public career. Born on May 1, 1833, in Guilford, Vermont, he was the son of John Phelps and Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps. His family later settled in Maryland, the state with which most of his professional and military life became associated. Phelps received an unusually strong education for his generation, attending Princeton University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1852 and a master’s degree in 1853, and later pursuing legal studies at Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1855 and began building a legal and civic career in Baltimore. Maryland State Archives Before the Civil War, Phelps was already involved in Maryland military and civic affairs. He served as a captain in the Maryland National Guard from 1858 to 1861, later advancing to major, and also served on the Baltimore City Council. When the Civil War divided the country—and Maryland itself contained strong Union and Confederate sympathies—Phelps remained loyal to the United States and entered Federal military service. He became associated with the 7th Maryland Infantry, a Union regiment organized in 1862, and eventually rose to command it as Colonel. Maryland State Archives The 7th Maryland Infantry became part of the Army of the Potomac and saw extensive active service. Its documented operations included the pursuit of Lee after Gettysburg, the Bristoe Campaign, the Mine Run Campaign, and, in 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign. During that campaign the regiment fought in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5–7, 1864, followed almost immediately by the fighting around Laurel Hill and Spotsylvania Court House beginning on May 8. National Park Service It was at Laurel Hill, Virginia, on May 8, 1864, that Colonel Phelps performed the action for which he would eventually receive the Medal of Honor. Union troops attempting to advance against strongly defended Confederate positions had suffered severe casualties. Under close artillery fire, the attacking formation became disorganized and began to falter. At this critical moment, Phelps rode forward to the head of the assaulting column rather than directing the attack from a comparatively safer position behind it. Congressional Medal of Honor Society Phelps deliberately placed himself where his soldiers could see him and attempted to restore order and momentum to the attack. He rallied the shaken troops and personally led them forward against the Confederate defenses. The advance carried the Union soldiers to within only a short distance of the enemy works. During the charge, Phelps was severely wounded and captured. His official Medal of Honor citation emphasizes precisely these elements: his decision to move conspicuously to the front, rally a badly damaged assaulting force, and personally lead it almost to the Confederate works despite intense artillery fire. Congressional Medal of Honor Society The significance of Phelps’s conduct rests not simply on participation in a dangerous assault but on his responsibilities as a regimental commander. The troops under his command had already suffered serious losses and were losing their offensive momentum. By moving visibly to the front, Phelps exposed himself to the same—and ultimately even greater—danger faced by the soldiers he was asking to advance. His severe wound and capture demonstrate how close he came to the Confederate position while leading the attack. Maryland’s Civil War burial records likewise identify him as wounded in action and taken prisoner at Laurel Hill on May 8, 1864. Maryland State Archives Phelps’s wounds affected the remainder of his active military career. Maryland State Archives records his Union service with the 7th Maryland Volunteers through September 1864. His wartime record, however, received another important recognition after the period of active fighting: he was ultimately granted the brevet rank of Brigadier General, dating from March 1865. A brevet promotion was an honorary advancement commonly granted for distinguished Civil War service and did not necessarily mean permanent command at that grade. For the database used in this project, Brevet Brigadier General is therefore his highest verified rank, while Colonel must be preserved separately as his rank during the Medal of Honor action at Laurel Hill. Maryland State Archives Medal of Honor The defining military decoration of Charles Edward Phelps’s career was the Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest military decoration for valor. His qualifying action took place on May 8, 1864, at Laurel Hill, Virginia, while he was serving as Colonel of the 7th Maryland Infantry, United States Army. He survived the action, so the award was not posthumous. Congressional Medal of Honor Society Phelps did not receive the Medal of Honor immediately after the Civil War. The decoration was formally presented to him on March 30, 1898, nearly thirty-four years after the action. His official citation recognizes him for riding to the front of an assaulting column that had been badly shaken by losses, rallying the troops under close artillery fire, and personally leading them to within a few feet of the Confederate works before being severely wounded and captured. Congressional Medal of Honor Society For the historical ribbon classification used in your database, his decoration is correctly entered as Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army. The Army changed the Medal of Honor ribbon design in 1896, and Phelps’s presentation date of March 30, 1898 falls within that period. This is an Army award, not the Navy version. U.S. Army After leaving military service, Phelps began an equally substantial career in public life. He represented Maryland in the United States House of Representatives from 1865 to 1869, moving almost directly from Civil War service into national politics. He later returned to legal practice and became closely involved with Maryland’s legal institutions. In 1884, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Law, where he taught equity, jurisprudence, pleading, and practice, remaining associated with the law school until 1907. Maryland State Archives Phelps also served for decades in the judiciary. In 1882, he became an Associate Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, a position he held until his death. His combination of battlefield leadership, congressional service, legal scholarship, and judicial responsibility made his career unusually broad even among Civil War veterans who later entered public life. He was also active in veterans’ affairs and served as president of the Maryland Association of Union Veterans. Maryland State Archives Charles Edward Phelps died in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 27, 1908, at the age of seventy-five. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Baltimore. His grave record preserves both his Medal of Honor status and his brevet rank of Brigadier General, linking his later public career permanently with the military service that first brought him national distinction. Congressional Medal of Honor Society Phelps’s historical legacy rests on much more than a single title or office. As a Colonel of the 7th Maryland Infantry, he demonstrated extraordinary personal leadership at Laurel Hill by moving to the front of a faltering assault and leading his soldiers forward until he was wounded and captured. As a Brevet Brigadier General, Medal of Honor recipient, congressman, professor, lawyer, and judge, he later transformed a wartime record of courage into decades of public service. The Medal of Honor presented on March 30, 1898 ensured that his actions on May 8, 1864 would remain the central military achievement in the long life of Charles Edward Phelps.