Charles H. Kloth

Charles H. Kloth was a Union artilleryman of the United States Army whose courage during the Vicksburg Campaign earned him the Medal of Honor. He served as a Private in the Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Light Artillery, one of the volunteer artillery formations that supported Major General Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign against the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Surviving official and institutional records identify Kloth as European-born and credit his military service to Chicago, Illinois. Much of his civilian life remains obscure, but his conduct on May 22, 1863, secured his permanent place in American military history. Congressional Medal of Honor Society The Chicago Mercantile Battery served in the Western Theater and was attached during the Vicksburg Campaign to the 10th Division, XIII Army Corps. Before the decisive siege, the battery took part in the fighting at Port Gibson on May 1, 1863, Champion Hill on May 16, and the Big Black River Bridge on May 17. It then entered the siege operations around Vicksburg, which lasted from May 18 until the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. These operations placed Kloth and his fellow artillerymen in one of the most strategically important campaigns of the Civil War. National Park Service Vicksburg was critical because control of the city meant control of a major section of the Mississippi River. Grant’s army repeatedly attempted to break the Confederate defenses before settling into siege operations. On May 22, 1863, Union forces launched a large-scale assault against the fortified Confederate line. Artillery support was needed close to the enemy works, and members of the Chicago Mercantile Battery were called upon to move a field piece forward under extremely dangerous conditions. National Park Service Private Kloth became one of the men who helped perform that extraordinary task. Together with other soldiers, he dragged a cannon forward by hand, moving it across difficult ground toward a Confederate defensive position. The gun was brought to an embrasure in the enemy works and fired at very close range. National Park Service history records that the battery’s piece was moved to within only a short distance of the Confederate lunette on the Baldwin’s Ferry Road and remained in action there for several hours. National Park Service Kloth’s Medal of Honor citation is brief but powerful: he was recognized for helping carry the cannon by hand to the Confederate works and firing it through an embrasure. The action required the artillerymen to leave the relative safety of their established battery position and move a heavy weapon directly toward a fortified enemy line. By bringing the gun so close to the Confederate position, Kloth and the other members of the detachment exposed themselves to concentrated fire while providing direct artillery support to the attacking Union infantry. National Park Service The May 22 assault did not immediately capture Vicksburg, but the Union army maintained pressure and began systematic siege operations. The Chicago Mercantile Battery continued firing against Confederate defenses throughout the remainder of the siege. When Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, the victory became one of the turning points of the Civil War, giving the Union effective control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy geographically. Kloth’s heroic action therefore occurred during a campaign of major strategic consequence. National Park Service Medal of Honor Kloth’s fully verified decoration is the Medal of Honor, the highest military award of the United States. His verified award details are: Decoration: Medal of Honor Branch: United States Army Rank at Action: Private Unit: Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Light Artillery Action Date: May 22, 1863 Action Location: Vicksburg, Mississippi Presentation / Issue Date: January 15, 1895 Posthumous: No Congressional Medal of Honor Society The Army Medal of Honor had been authorized by Congress during the Civil War in 1862, following the establishment of the Navy version the previous year. It became the nation’s highest recognition for extraordinary military valor. Kloth did not receive his medal immediately after the battle. His award came more than three decades later, on January 15, 1895, when his 1863 action was formally recognized. Army For the historical ribbon system in your database, his Medal of Honor is correctly represented as: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army That is the correct Army historical period for an award issued in January 1895. Civil War Campaign Medal — Historical Context The second ribbon currently shown in your rack is the Civil War Campaign Medal. The Army established this campaign medal in 1907. According to official Army awards guidance, it recognized qualifying U.S. Army military service between April 15, 1861 and April 9, 1865, with an extended qualifying period in Texas through August 20, 1866. HRC Army Kloth unquestionably served during the Civil War and participated in the Vicksburg Campaign, so his documented service falls within the qualifying historical period. However, under the client’s strict evidence standard, qualifying service alone does not prove that an individual medal was actually issued to a particular soldier. Therefore, unless a recipient-specific record confirming the Civil War Campaign Medal for Kloth is located—or the client has explicitly approved it as a curator decision—it should remain HOLD / not independently verified rather than being described as a confirmed personal decoration. Pasted text(2) Later Life and Historical Legacy Unlike many Medal of Honor recipients, Charles H. Kloth left behind very little easily verifiable biographical information outside his wartime service. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society records his birthplace only as Europe, and no verified death date or burial location is currently supplied in its recipient record. Medal of Honor burial researchers similarly classify his final resting place as “Lost to History.” Congressional Medal of Honor Society This absence of later-life documentation should not be filled with assumptions. What can be stated with confidence is that Kloth served the Union Army as a Private in an artillery battery, fought in the Vicksburg Campaign, and distinguished himself during one of the campaign’s most dangerous assaults. His act was not one of command or senior leadership; it was the courage of an enlisted artilleryman who helped move a cannon by hand directly toward a fortified enemy position and then assisted in firing it against the defenders. Charles H. Kloth’s historical reputation therefore rests on a clearly documented act of battlefield courage. On May 22, 1863, he and his comrades transformed a field artillery piece into a close-assault weapon at the Confederate defenses of Vicksburg. More than thirty years later, the United States formally recognized that service with the Medal of Honor. Though many details of his life before and after the war have disappeared from the historical record, his name remains preserved through the official Medal of Honor roll and the history of the Chicago Mercantile Battery as one of the soldiers whose bravery helped define the Vicksburg Campaign.