Daniel Lakin

Daniel Lakin was a United States Navy sailor whose service during the American Civil War placed him in the dangerous environment of riverine and coastal warfare. He served aboard USS Commodore Perry and held the rank of Seaman at the time of the action for which he became best known. His courage during combat at Franklin, Virginia, on October 3, 1862, ultimately earned him the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration of the United States.

During the Civil War, the United States Navy played a major role in blockading Confederate ports, supporting Army operations, controlling rivers and coastal waterways, and striking Confederate positions from ships operating close to shore. Sailors serving aboard vessels such as USS Commodore Perry frequently faced musketry, artillery fire, and the constant danger of operating in confined waterways where ships could be exposed to enemy fire from the banks.

USS Commodore Perry was a Union Navy gunboat used in operations along the rivers and coastal regions of Virginia and North Carolina. Like many gunboats of the period, the vessel supported Union military operations by transporting troops, engaging Confederate forces, and using naval gunfire against enemy positions. The crews of these vessels often fought at extremely close range, where the distinction between naval and land combat could become very small.

Daniel Lakin’s defining action occurred on October 3, 1862, during operations near Franklin, Virginia. At the time, he was serving as a Seaman aboard USS Commodore Perry. The vessel became involved in a difficult engagement in which Union forces were exposed to Confederate resistance from positions along the river and surrounding terrain.

During the fighting, Lakin distinguished himself through courageous conduct under enemy fire. His actions were considered sufficiently extraordinary that the Navy later selected him for the Medal of Honor. The surviving official record identifies him specifically as a Seaman of USS Commodore Perry and associates his decoration with the combat action at Franklin.

The Medal of Honor was still a very new decoration when Lakin earned it. Congress had authorized the Navy Medal of Honor in 1861, making it the earliest version of what would become the United States’ highest military award. During the Civil War, the Navy Medal of Honor was primarily awarded to enlisted sailors and Marines who demonstrated exceptional bravery, gallantry, or devotion to duty during combat and other dangerous operations.

Unlike the modern system of numerous valor decorations, Civil War sailors had relatively few formal decorations available for individual bravery. The Navy Cross, Silver Star, and many other later awards did not yet exist. The Medal of Honor therefore carried particular importance as the principal national recognition available to enlisted naval personnel who performed extraordinary acts of courage.

Daniel Lakin’s Medal of Honor was formally recognized through Navy Department General Order No. 11, dated April 3, 1863. The order listed him as Daniel Lakin, Seaman, USS Commodore Perry, confirming his recognition for his conduct during the previous year’s operations.

For the medal database, the historically appropriate entry for Lakin is Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy. This designation corresponds to the early Navy Medal of Honor era under which his Civil War decoration falls.

His finalized medal record therefore contains one decoration:

Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — 1863 — No device or clasp.

No additional star, clasp, bar, or other device is associated with his Medal of Honor.

Lakin’s wartime conduct also appears to have contributed to advancement within the Navy. Official historical records indicate that he was later promoted to Acting Master's Mate. This was a significant progression from his earlier enlisted rank of Seaman and reflected increased responsibility aboard ship.

An Acting Master's Mate in the nineteenth-century Navy occupied a position of greater responsibility than an ordinary enlisted sailor. The role could involve assisting officers in navigation, deck operations, ship handling, and the supervision of crewmen. Lakin’s advancement therefore shows that his naval career continued beyond the single heroic episode for which he received national recognition.

It is important, however, to distinguish Lakin’s rank during his Medal of Honor action from his later highest verified rank. At Franklin on October 3, 1862, his rank was Seaman. His later highest verified rank was Acting Master's Mate.

Because Lakin served in the United States Navy during the Civil War, the possibility of a later Navy Civil War campaign medal must also be considered carefully. The Navy created a separate Civil War campaign medal decades after the conflict, distinct from the Army’s Civil War Campaign Medal.

Under the research rules applied to Lakin’s profile, Civil War service alone is not sufficient to place that later campaign medal in his ribbon rack. A campaign medal must be supported by recipient-specific evidence or by a client-approved historical rule establishing entitlement.

In Lakin’s case, sufficiently strong evidence has not been established showing that he personally received or qualified under the required project standard for the later Navy Civil War Medal. His date of death is also not securely established in the authoritative material currently available, which prevents confirmation of the client’s specific survival requirement associated with that medal.

For that reason, the Navy Civil War Medal is not included in his finalized rack.

The Medal of Honor remains the only decoration that can be confidently assigned to Daniel Lakin under the present evidence standard.

The historical record of Lakin’s later life is much less detailed than the documentation surrounding his wartime service. Many enlisted Civil War sailors left only limited traces in surviving official records once their naval careers ended. Without reliable documentation, details about his civilian occupation, family, residence, or exact date of death should not be invented or expanded merely to create a longer narrative.

What remains historically important is the record of his service aboard USS Commodore Perry, his courage during the action at Franklin, Virginia, his recognition by the Navy Department, and his later advancement to Acting Master's Mate.

Daniel Lakin belonged to a generation of Union sailors who fought the Civil War not only on the open sea but also along narrow rivers, sounds, and coastal waterways. These operations could place wooden gunboats within close range of Confederate riflemen and artillery, creating dangerous conditions in which sailors had little protection from hostile fire.

His Medal of Honor places him among the early recipients of an award that would later become one of the most prestigious military decorations in the world. At the time Lakin received it, the Medal of Honor was still in its infancy, and its Civil War recipients helped establish the tradition of recognizing exceptional bravery in American military service.

Lakin’s story is therefore significant both as an individual account of courage and as part of the early history of the United States Medal of Honor. His action at Franklin occurred at a time when the Union Navy was expanding its control of Southern waterways and working closely with Union land forces in a complex and dangerous theater of war.

Although many details of his life outside the Navy remain uncertain, his military legacy is clear. Daniel Lakin served his country as a United States Navy sailor, fought aboard USS Commodore Perry during the Civil War, demonstrated exceptional courage under fire, received the Medal of Honor, and later rose to the rank of Acting Master's Mate.

His final verified medal record remains appropriately simple:

Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — awarded in 1863 for his Civil War service and heroic conduct at Franklin, Virginia, on October 3, 1862 — no device or clasp.