Daniel W. Burke

Civil War soldier risked his life to silence an enemy cannon

Daniel Webster Burke was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and entered the United States Army before the American Civil War. He became a professional infantry soldier and served with Company B, 2nd United States Infantry. His Army career would eventually stretch across several decades, carrying him from the enlisted ranks of the Civil War to senior command and the rank of Brigadier General.

By September 1862, Burke was serving as First Sergeant of Company B, 2nd U.S. Infantry. The Union and Confederate armies had just fought the devastating Battle of Antietam in Maryland, and Confederate forces were withdrawing across the Potomac River into Virginia. Union troops followed them, leading to fighting around Shepherdstown on September 19 and 20.

On September 20, 1862, Burke took part in the Battle of Shepherdstown. Confederate artillery threatened Union troops near the river, and the fighting became increasingly dangerous as Federal soldiers attempted to operate under enemy fire. It was during this action that Burke performed the deed that would eventually make him a Medal of Honor recipient.

Burke voluntarily moved forward toward an enemy cannon and attempted to spike it while exposed to Confederate fire. Spiking an artillery piece meant disabling the gun by driving an object into its firing mechanism or vent, preventing the enemy from using it. To reach the cannon, Burke had to leave the relative protection of his own troops and move into an area dominated by the enemy.

His action demonstrated extraordinary personal courage. He was not simply following a routine movement with his company; he deliberately placed himself in a position of extreme danger in an attempt to neutralize an enemy weapon that threatened Union soldiers. The attempt became the defining battlefield moment of his Civil War service.

For his bravery at Shepherdstown, Burke was awarded the Medal of Honor. The decoration was presented on April 21, 1892, almost thirty years after the action itself. Such long delays were not unusual for some Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, whose deeds were formally reviewed and recognized many years after the conflict.

The Medal of Honor awarded to Burke belonged to the early Army tradition of the decoration. During the Civil War, the Medal of Honor was the principal federal award available for extraordinary military courage. Burke’s citation preserved the essential act for which he was recognized: voluntarily attempting to spike an enemy gun in the face of opposing forces.

The Medal of Honor is the verified decoration included in Burke’s final profile. No additional clasp, bar, star or device is associated with the award. His military career involved other campaigns and periods of service, but no additional medal is included without recipient-specific evidence establishing entitlement.

Burke remained in the Army after the Civil War rather than returning permanently to civilian life. His career continued within the Regular Army, and over the following decades he advanced from the enlisted ranks into the officer corps. This transformation from First Sergeant to senior officer became one of the most remarkable aspects of his military career.

As the United States Army changed during the decades after the Civil War, Burke continued serving in an institution that was expanding its responsibilities across the country and eventually overseas. His long professional experience made him one of the veterans who connected the Civil War generation with the Army of the late nineteenth century.

When the Spanish-American War began in 1898, Burke was still serving and had reached senior field-officer rank. He served as a Lieutenant Colonel with the 11th United States Infantry during operations in Puerto Rico. His responsibilities during this campaign were very different from those of the First Sergeant who had crossed toward an enemy cannon at Shepherdstown decades earlier.

During the Puerto Rico campaign, Burke exercised significant combat command responsibility. He commanded troops during active operations and was associated with fighting at Hormigueros and Las Marias. These actions demonstrated that his career had developed far beyond individual battlefield heroism; by 1898 he was responsible for directing other soldiers during combat.

At Hormigueros, American troops encountered Spanish resistance during their advance across western Puerto Rico. Burke’s forces participated in the fighting as the Army continued pushing inland. Later, during operations around Las Marias, he again held command responsibilities as American forces pursued retreating Spanish troops.

His service in Puerto Rico represented another important chapter in a career that had begun before the Civil War had reached its midpoint. Burke had now served in two distinct American wars separated by more than three decades. The young First Sergeant of 1862 had become an experienced commander responsible for large formations of infantry.

Burke eventually reached the rank of Brigadier General, the highest rank of his military career. His rise from an enlisted infantryman to a general officer reflected decades of continued service, experience and professional advancement within the United States Army.

The contrast between Burke’s first famous battlefield action and his later career is especially striking. At Shepherdstown, his courage was intensely personal: one soldier moved toward an enemy cannon and attempted to disable it under fire. By the Spanish-American War, his responsibility had expanded from controlling his own actions in battle to directing entire groups of soldiers during combat operations.

Burke’s Medal of Honor remained the defining decoration of that long career. It represented the moment when, as a First Sergeant in the 2nd U.S. Infantry, he deliberately exposed himself to Confederate fire in an effort to silence an enemy gun. The medal was awarded decades later, but the event it commemorated remained permanently tied to the Battle of Shepherdstown.

Daniel Webster Burke ultimately completed one of the most remarkable career journeys among Civil War Medal of Honor recipients. He began as an enlisted infantry soldier, earned the Medal of Honor for an exceptionally dangerous action in 1862, remained in professional military service, commanded troops during the Spanish-American War, and eventually attained the rank of Brigadier General.

His legacy therefore reaches beyond a single decoration. The Medal of Honor records his courage at Shepherdstown, while the rest of his career demonstrates how far that young First Sergeant progressed after the Civil War. From crossing toward an enemy cannon under fire to commanding American troops in Puerto Rico and eventually wearing a general officer’s rank, Burke spent decades building a military record defined by courage, leadership and continued service to the United States Army.