Charles Henry Smith (Navy Medal of Honor)

Charles H. Smith was born in 1826 in Standish, Maine. He became a sailor in the United States Navy and served during the American Civil War, ultimately earning the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage during one of the most famous maritime disasters of the conflict—the sinking of the ironclad USS Monitor off Cape Hatteras. Smith's surviving official record identifies him simply as Charles H. Smith. His middle name has not been reliably established in the strongest authoritative sources, so it should not be expanded in the final profile. During the Civil War, Smith served aboard USS Rhode Island. At the time of his Medal of Honor action, his naval rating was Coxswain. He later attained the higher rating of Master's Mate, making Master's Mate his highest verified rank. This distinction is important: Rank at Heroic Action: Coxswain Highest Verified Rank: Master's Mate USS Rhode Island USS Rhode Island was a large wooden side-wheel steamer acquired by the United States Navy in 1861. Unlike ships designed primarily for fleet combat, Rhode Island initially performed extensive logistical and support work. During the Civil War she carried mail, medical supplies, stores, money, officers, and other necessities to Union vessels operating along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The ship nevertheless saw dangerous operational service as well. She participated in blockade-related activities, pursued blockade runners, captured enemy-associated vessels, and later supported major Union naval operations. By late 1862, Rhode Island received another demanding assignment: towing newly built Union ironclads southward. One of those vessels was the revolutionary USS Monitor. The Famous USS Monitor USS Monitor had already become one of the most famous ships in American naval history. On March 9, 1862, Monitor had fought the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads. Their engagement was the world's first major battle between iron-armored warships and permanently changed naval warfare. But Monitor had been designed primarily for protected coastal and river operations. Its deck sat extremely low in the water. That design made the vessel difficult for enemy gunfire to hit, but it also made Monitor highly vulnerable to heavy seas. In December 1862, the Navy ordered Monitor south for operations along the North Carolina coast. Because the ironclad was not well suited to an open-ocean voyage under its own power, USS Rhode Island was assigned to tow her. Charles H. Smith was aboard Rhode Island when the mission began. Voyage Toward North Carolina On December 29, 1862, USS Rhode Island departed the Virginia Capes with Monitor in tow. The intended destination was Beaufort, North Carolina. The voyage initially proceeded normally, but conditions deteriorated dramatically as the vessels approached Cape Hatteras. Cape Hatteras was already notorious among mariners. Powerful currents, shallow waters, rapidly changing weather, and violent storms made the area one of the most dangerous sections of the Atlantic coast. During the evening of December 30, the sea became increasingly rough. Waves began sweeping over Monitor's extremely low deck. Water penetrated the ironclad faster than its pumps could remove it. The situation steadily became critical. Monitor Begins to Sink Inside Monitor, crewmen struggled desperately against the flooding. Pumps operated continuously. Men attempted to prevent additional water from entering. But the storm grew stronger. The ironclad began losing stability, and it became clear that the vessel could not survive the conditions. Eventually, Monitor signaled USS Rhode Island that assistance was desperately needed. For the sailors aboard Rhode Island, that created an extremely dangerous rescue problem. The two ships could not simply be brought alongside one another in the heavy sea. Doing so could have caused them to collide, potentially destroying small boats and killing men caught between the vessels. Instead, rescue boats had to be lowered from Rhode Island and rowed through the storm to Monitor. Charles H. Smith became one of the sailors involved in that operation. The Medal of Honor Action — December 30, 1862 Smith, then serving as a Coxswain, participated directly in the hazardous attempt to rescue Monitor's officers and crew. A coxswain was an experienced enlisted sailor trusted with the handling and direction of a ship's boat. Under ordinary conditions, taking a cutter between two vessels required seamanship and discipline. During a violent Atlantic gale at night, the danger increased enormously. Smith and his fellow sailors left the relative safety of USS Rhode Island in a small open boat. They rowed toward the sinking ironclad through heavy waves, wind, darkness, and spray. The difference in scale was dramatic. Around them was the violent Atlantic Ocean. Their rescue craft was little more than an open boat. Yet they continued toward Monitor. Rescuing Monitor's Crew Smith's official Medal of Honor citation records that he participated in saving several members of Monitor's crew. The rescue boats moved between the vessels, taking men from the increasingly unstable ironclad and trying to return them safely to Rhode Island. Every trip carried serious risks. A large wave could overturn the cutter. The men could be swept overboard. The boat could strike the iron hull of Monitor or be crushed against Rhode Island. And as the ironclad settled deeper into the sea, time was running out. Smith nevertheless remained involved in the rescue. The operation continued as conditions deteriorated. Then Smith and the men in his cutter encountered another crisis. Separated From USS Rhode Island The heavy gale separated Smith's small boat from USS Rhode Island. Suddenly, the rescuers themselves were in danger of becoming victims. They were now isolated in an open cutter on the Atlantic Ocean during a severe storm. Rhode Island could not simply turn and immediately recover them. The large vessel also had to remain near the location where Monitor was sinking and continue rescuing as many men as possible. Smith and the other sailors therefore found themselves alone in the darkness and high seas. They spent many hours exposed to the storm. Their survival depended upon seamanship, physical endurance, and the ability to keep their small craft afloat. For a sailor in an open boat, the dangers included exhaustion, cold, breaking waves, loss of direction, and capsizing. There was no guarantee that anyone would find them. USS Monitor Disappears Meanwhile, Monitor could no longer remain afloat. Shortly after midnight, in the early hours of December 31, 1862, the historic ironclad sank beneath the Atlantic. Four officers and twelve enlisted sailors—sixteen men in total—were lost with the ship. Most of the remaining crew survived because USS Rhode Island's sailors repeatedly risked their lives to evacuate them. The image of Rhode Island standing offshore while small boats removed men from the sinking Monitor became one of the enduring scenes of Civil War naval history. Charles H. Smith was one of the sailors who made those rescues possible. Rescue of Smith and His Boat Crew Smith's ordeal continued long after Monitor disappeared. His cutter had been driven far from USS Rhode Island. The boat remained at the mercy of the storm for hours. Eventually, Smith and the other men were spotted and rescued by a schooner. By then, their small boat had been carried approximately 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras. The distance illustrates just how serious their predicament had become. Smith had begun the operation by risking his life to rescue sailors from a sinking ironclad. By the end, he himself had survived hours adrift in an open boat in one of the Atlantic coast's most dangerous maritime regions. Why He Received the Medal of Honor Charles H. Smith's Medal of Honor recognized both elements of his ordeal. First, he voluntarily participated in the dangerous evacuation of USS Monitor. Second, after helping rescue several men, he survived the extraordinary danger of becoming separated from his own ship and spending hours exposed to the gale. His conduct was a demonstration of naval courage without conventional enemy combat. No Confederate cannon was firing at him. No enemy vessel was being boarded. Instead, the enemy was the sea itself. The Medal of Honor in the Civil War era was awarded not only for battlefield valor but also for exceptional bravery in maritime emergencies where sailors knowingly placed their own lives in danger to save others. Smith's action fits squarely within that tradition. Rank and Advancement At the time of the rescue, Smith's official naval rating was: Coxswain Later records establish that he advanced to: Master's Mate A Master's Mate was a senior enlisted or warrant-level shipboard position associated with seamanship, navigation assistance, deck supervision, and supporting the vessel's officers. Therefore, the final profile must preserve: Action Rank: Coxswain Highest Verified Rank: Master's Mate The two should not be merged or substituted for one another. Medal of Honor Smith received the United States Navy Medal of Honor for his conduct during the Monitor rescue. His verified action details are: Ship: USS Rhode Island Action Date: December 30, 1862 Location: Off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina Heroic Action: Rescue of the officers and crew of the sinking USS Monitor The Medal of Honor was awarded during his lifetime. Posthumous: No For the project's ribbon database, the correct historical category is: Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — No device There is no verified V device, star, clasp, or other attachment associated with Smith's Medal of Honor. Broader Civil War Context USS Rhode Island survived the Monitor disaster and continued extensive Civil War service. In 1863, the vessel operated in the Atlantic and West Indies and participated in searches for Confederate commerce raiders. She also captured blockade runners. After receiving major repairs and heavier armament in 1864, Rhode Island joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The ship later participated in the attacks on Fort Fisher, the powerful Confederate fortress protecting Wilmington, North Carolina. However, recipient-specific documentation presently does not justify automatically assigning Charles H. Smith personally to every later operation undertaken by USS Rhode Island. His profile should therefore distinguish clearly between: verified Smith service/action and the broader operational history of his ship. His securely documented heroic legacy remains the rescue of USS Monitor. Later Life Charles H. Smith survived both the Civil War and the Cape Hatteras disaster. The surviving authoritative record gives relatively little detail about his civilian career after naval service. Rather than filling those years with uncertain genealogical information, his biography should remain limited to facts that can be securely associated with the Medal of Honor recipient. What is firmly established is that Smith eventually lived in Vermont. He died on February 4, 1898, in West Concord, Vermont. He was approximately seventy-one or seventy-two years old. Smith was buried in Concord Village Cemetery in Concord, Vermont. Legacy Charles H. Smith's Medal of Honor story is fundamentally a story of rescue. USS Monitor occupies an enormous place in American naval history because of its revolutionary design and its historic fight against CSS Virginia. But when Monitor faced its final crisis, technology alone could not save its crew. Survival depended on sailors willing to leave a comparatively large vessel and enter a violent Atlantic storm in small open boats. Charles H. Smith was one of those sailors. He crossed the storm-tossed water to the sinking ironclad. He helped rescue several men. He then became separated from his own ship and spent hours fighting for survival in an open cutter before finally being rescued many miles from Cape Hatteras. His Medal of Honor did not commemorate victory over an enemy force. It commemorated something equally fundamental to naval service: the willingness of one sailor to risk his own life to save the lives of others. That courage ensured that Charles H. Smith's name became permanently associated with the final chapter in the history of USS Monitor.