Dennis Conlan

Dennis Conlan was born in 1838 in New York City, New York. Surviving official records preserve considerably more information about his naval service than about his childhood or early civilian life, so the most securely documented part of his story begins with his service in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Conlan became one of the thousands of enlisted sailors who served in the Union Navy as it expanded dramatically to blockade the Confederate coastline, control important waterways, and support Union armies operating ashore. During the Civil War, Conlan served aboard USS Agawam, a double-ended side-wheel gunboat commissioned in March 1864. Agawam operated as part of the Union Navy’s wartime forces and carried a substantial battery of heavy naval guns. By late 1864 the ship and her crew had become involved in operations associated with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the Union effort to close Wilmington, North Carolina—the last major Confederate port still receiving significant overseas supplies. At the time of the action for which he would receive the Medal of Honor, Conlan held the rating of Seaman. This was an experienced enlisted sailor rating in the nineteenth-century U.S. Navy. Conlan later attained the higher verified rating of Gunner’s Mate, but because the current database does not contain Gunner’s Mate as a selectable Civil War rating, his profile correctly uses Seaman, the rank he actually held during his Medal of Honor action. By late 1864, Fort Fisher, located near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, had become one of the most important Confederate defensive positions remaining on the Atlantic coast. The fort protected the approaches to Wilmington, allowing blockade runners to continue bringing military supplies through the port and then transporting them inland to Confederate armies. Union commanders understood that closing Wilmington required neutralizing Fort Fisher. The fort, however, was formidable. Its massive earth-and-sand defenses could absorb naval bombardment more effectively than conventional masonry fortifications, while its heavy guns protected the river approaches and surrounding coastline. A highly unusual plan was developed as part of the first Union operation against Fort Fisher. Union forces would transform the old side-wheel steamer USS Louisiana into an enormous floating explosive device. The ship was stripped for the mission and packed with a huge quantity of gunpowder and other explosives. The theory was that detonating the vessel close to Fort Fisher might damage the fortifications, detonate Confederate magazines, stun the defenders, or otherwise weaken the position immediately before the Union assault. The mission was inherently dangerous. The powder ship had to be brought close to hostile territory, positioned near the fort, prepared for detonation, and abandoned before the explosives went off. A mechanical problem, premature ignition, enemy discovery, or difficulty escaping could have killed everyone aboard. A volunteer crew was therefore required. Dennis Conlan volunteered. Conlan was selected from USS Agawam as one of the sailors willing to take part in the hazardous powder-boat operation. Commander Alexander C. Rhind of Agawam was given command of the mission, and a carefully selected group of volunteers accompanied him aboard Louisiana. On the night of December 23, 1864, the operation began in earnest. The side-wheel gunboat USS Wilderness towed the explosive-laden Louisiana toward Fort Fisher. Darkness was essential to the plan because the Union sailors needed to approach without drawing fire from the Confederate defenses. Once near the coast, Louisiana was released and moved closer toward its intended position. Official Medal of Honor records describe the powder boat as approaching to within roughly 300 yards of the beach. The crew then began the dangerous process of preparing the vessel for destruction. Fuses were prepared and fires were lit. A second anchor was dropped with a short scope so that the vessel would remain oriented toward shore. Every stage had to be performed on a ship packed with explosives while enemy territory lay only a short distance away. Conlan remained with the volunteer crew throughout this operation. Once the preparations were complete, the sailors abandoned Louisiana and returned to Wilderness. The vessel carrying them away then moved approximately twelve miles offshore to put sufficient distance between the crew and the expected explosion. In the early hours of December 24, Louisiana finally exploded. The blast was spectacular. Flames and the force of the detonation illuminated the area around Fort Fisher, and fires were still visible afterward. But militarily, the experiment did not achieve the result Union planners had hoped for. The ship was farther from the fort than intended, and parts of the planned detonation system failed to operate properly. The enormous explosion therefore caused little meaningful damage to Fort Fisher itself. The failure of the powder ship to destroy the fort did not reflect a failure of courage by the sailors who had taken it into position. Conlan and the other volunteers had carried out an exceptionally hazardous assignment aboard a vessel intentionally loaded with enough explosives to destroy itself completely. At daylight on December 24, the Union Navy began a massive bombardment of Fort Fisher. The operation developed into what became known as the First Battle of Fort Fisher. Union ships fired thousands of shells at the Confederate defenses while Army forces prepared for a possible assault. The first expedition ultimately failed to capture the fort. Union Army commander Major General Benjamin Butler concluded that the defenses remained too strong and withdrew his troops. Fort Fisher therefore remained in Confederate hands after the December operation. The Union returned in January 1865 with a new joint Army-Navy force. After another intense naval bombardment and a major land assault, Fort Fisher finally fell on January 15, 1865. Its capture effectively sealed Wilmington against Confederate blockade runners, removing the last major Atlantic gateway through which large quantities of foreign supplies could reach Confederate forces. Dennis Conlan’s direct claim to military distinction, however, remained connected to the extraordinary December powder-boat mission. Medal of Honor For his voluntary participation in the dangerous operation against Fort Fisher, Dennis Conlan received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration of the United States. His verified action details were: Branch: United States Navy Rank at Action: Seaman Ship: USS Agawam Operation: Fort Fisher powder-boat mission Action Date: December 23, 1864 Location: Near Fort Fisher, North Carolina Conlan’s Medal of Honor citation specifically records that he served aboard USS Agawam and volunteered as a member of the crew of the powder boat that was exploded near Fort Fisher. It recounts the approach toward shore, the preparation of the vessel, the crew’s withdrawal aboard Wilderness, and the subsequent explosion. The award was formally recorded under General Orders No. 45, dated December 31, 1864. This places Conlan’s Medal of Honor among the original Civil War-era Navy awards rather than among decorations retrospectively issued decades later. His Medal of Honor was formally presented on May 12, 1865, aboard USS Agawam, then off New Bern, North Carolina. Conlan therefore received his decoration during his lifetime, only a few months after the Fort Fisher operation and shortly after the principal Confederate armies had surrendered. For the database, his decoration is correctly represented as: Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — 1864 — No device or clasp The year 1864 refers to the year of the action and official award authorization. No additional star, clasp, bar, or other ribbon device has been verified for Conlan’s Medal of Honor. The Navy Medal of Honor itself had been created during the Civil War. Congress authorized the original naval Medal of Honor in December 1861, making the Navy version the earliest form of what became the United States’ highest military decoration. In that era the Navy did not possess the extensive hierarchy of personal decorations later represented by awards such as the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and other twentieth-century medals. For enlisted Civil War sailors such as Dennis Conlan, the Medal of Honor therefore represented the principal national recognition available for extraordinary courage and exceptional wartime conduct. Seaman to Gunner’s Mate An important distinction exists between Conlan’s action-time rating and the highest rating he later attained. During the December 23, 1864 Medal of Honor action, he was: Seaman His highest verified Navy rating was later: Gunner’s Mate A Gunner’s Mate was responsible for duties associated with naval weapons, ammunition, gun equipment, and the safe and effective operation of a ship’s armament. It was therefore a skilled enlisted rating directly connected with one of the most important combat functions aboard a nineteenth-century warship. Because the current database lacks a dedicated Gunner’s Mate option for this period, using Seaman is historically preferable to selecting an unrelated rating such as Quarter Gunner, Boatswain’s Mate, Master’s Mate, or Sailmaker’s Mate. Seaman is not an approximation—it was Conlan’s verified Medal of Honor action rank. Civil War Campaign Medal The Navy Civil War Campaign Medal is not part of Dennis Conlan’s final medal rack. This medal was created many decades after the Civil War. The Navy authorized its Civil War campaign medal in the early twentieth century to recognize qualifying naval service during the conflict. Conlan clearly performed genuine Civil War naval service, but he died long before that later medal system was established. Under the project’s client rule for Navy and Marine Civil War veterans, the Navy Civil War Campaign Medal is not added to a veteran who was no longer alive in 1909. Dennis Conlan died in 1870, nearly four decades before that cutoff. Therefore his final verified medal history remains: Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — 1864 — No device or clasp No Army Civil War Campaign Medal should be added either, because Conlan was a United States Navy veteran rather than an Army soldier. Later Life and Death Conlan survived the Civil War and returned to civilian life, but his postwar life was tragically short. The surviving military records provide far more detail about his wartime service than about his civilian occupation or family circumstances, so those areas should not be expanded with unsupported assumptions. What is firmly established is that he returned to New York City, the city where he had been born and to which his Medal of Honor service was accredited. Dennis Conlan died on December 2, 1870, in New York City. He was only about thirty-two years old. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, New York, where his grave became the final resting place of a sailor whose military legacy was permanently linked to one of the most unusual naval operations of the American Civil War. Conlan did not command a warship, lead a large body of sailors, or accumulate a long list of military decorations. His historical importance comes instead from a decision he made as an enlisted sailor: when the Navy requested volunteers to board a ship deliberately packed with explosives and take it toward one of the Confederacy’s strongest coastal fortifications, he volunteered to go. The powder-boat experiment failed to destroy Fort Fisher, but military decorations recognize courage and conduct, not merely whether an entire strategic plan succeeds. Conlan and his fellow volunteers completed their hazardous assignment, positioned the explosive vessel near enemy defenses, prepared it for destruction, and escaped before it detonated. That act became the defining episode of Dennis Conlan’s naval career. His verified historical profile is therefore clear: Dennis Conlan was a United States Navy Seaman aboard USS Agawam, later a Gunner’s Mate, a volunteer participant in the December 23, 1864 Fort Fisher powder-boat operation, and a Medal of Honor recipient whose courage was formally recognized during his lifetime on May 12, 1865.