Frederick W. Füger

Frederick W. Fuger, whose surname is also historically written as Füger, was born in 1836 in Württemberg, Germany. He immigrated to the United States as a young man and entered the United States Army in the years before the American Civil War. In 1856 he enlisted in the Regular Army and became associated with the 4th U.S. Artillery, beginning a military career that would ultimately extend for more than four decades. Unlike many Civil War soldiers who entered military service only after the outbreak of hostilities, Fuger already possessed several years of Regular Army experience when the conflict began in 1861. As an artillery soldier, Fuger developed the specialized skills required to operate field guns under combat conditions. Nineteenth-century artillery service demanded discipline, physical endurance, precise teamwork and the ability to continue operating weapons while exposed to enemy infantry and artillery fire. During the Civil War, Battery A of the 4th U.S. Artillery became part of the Army of the Potomac and participated in major campaigns in the Eastern Theater. Fuger advanced through the enlisted ranks and by the time of the Battle of Gettysburg was serving as a senior noncommissioned officer in the battery. The defining event of Fuger’s military career occurred on July 3, 1863, during the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery was positioned on Cemetery Ridge under the command of Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing. The battery occupied ground near the center of the Union defensive line, placing its guns directly in the path of the massive Confederate infantry assault later remembered as Pickett’s Charge. Before the Confederate infantry advanced, Cemetery Ridge was subjected to an intense artillery bombardment. Confederate cannon attempted to weaken the Union position and suppress Federal artillery before the infantry attack. Battery A suffered heavily during the bombardment. Guns were damaged, horses and artillery personnel were struck, and members of the battery were killed or wounded. Despite those losses, the surviving artillerymen remained at their positions. Lieutenant Cushing was wounded several times but continued directing his battery. As Confederate infantry approached the Union line, the remaining guns of Battery A fired at increasingly short range. Fuger remained actively engaged in operating and directing the battery under these conditions. His role became even more important as casualties reduced the number of officers and experienced artillerymen available to command the position. During the final stage of the Confederate assault, Cushing was killed while continuing to fight near his remaining artillery piece. With the battery’s officers killed or wounded and most of its guns disabled, Frederick Fuger succeeded to command of the surviving artillerymen. Instead of abandoning the position, he continued the defense with the remaining serviceable gun and maintained its fire against the Confederate assault. Fuger’s conduct occurred at one of the most critical points on the Gettysburg battlefield. Confederate troops reached the stone wall and penetrated portions of the Union position near the area defended by Cushing’s battery. The remaining artillery crews were therefore fighting at extremely close range while Union infantry and Confederate attackers struggled for control of Cemetery Ridge. Fuger continued directing the surviving gun until the battery was finally ordered to withdraw. The Confederate assault was ultimately repulsed. Pickett’s Charge failed to break the Union center, and the Army of Northern Virginia subsequently began withdrawing from Gettysburg. The battle became a major strategic turning point in the Eastern Theater and one of the most important engagements of the American Civil War. Fuger’s actions were part of the desperate defense of the Union center during the decisive final attack. Although his conduct occurred in 1863, Fuger did not receive the Medal of Honor immediately. Like a number of Civil War soldiers, his battlefield action was formally recognized decades after the war. On August 24, 1897, the United States awarded Frederick W. Fuger the Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg. His Medal of Honor recognition specifically centered on the circumstances in which the officers of his battery had been killed or wounded, most of its guns had become disabled, and Fuger succeeded to command. He continued fighting the remaining gun with exceptional gallantry until withdrawal was ordered. The award therefore recognized both personal courage and battlefield leadership under direct enemy attack. The Medal of Honor had originated during the Civil War. Congress authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862, creating a national decoration for extraordinary military conduct. During and after the Civil War it became the highest American military decoration, and additional wartime cases continued to be reviewed long after the fighting ended. Fuger’s case is an important example of the need to distinguish between the date of heroic action and the date on which the decoration was actually issued. His heroic action occurred on July 3, 1863, but his Medal of Honor was issued on August 24, 1897. Because the project identifies the appropriate historical Army Medal of Honor version according to the period in which the decoration was issued, Fuger’s correct database representation is Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1897. The 1896–1903 designation describes the relevant historical Medal of Honor design and ribbon period; it does not change the fact that his gallantry took place during the Civil War in 1863. No additional device, clasp, star, bar or oak leaf cluster has been independently verified for Fuger’s Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor should therefore appear as a single plain decoration without an additional device. Fuger’s military career continued long after Gettysburg. His battlefield experience and demonstrated ability contributed to his advancement from the enlisted ranks into the commissioned officer corps. He subsequently became an officer in the United States Army and continued serving during the long post-Civil War period when Regular Army artillery units were assigned to garrisons, coastal defenses and frontier duties across the expanding United States. Over the following decades, Fuger continued progressing through the officer ranks. His career eventually carried him through lieutenant and captain grades and into senior field rank. His long period of service distinguished him from many Civil War Medal of Honor recipients whose military careers ended shortly after the war. His postwar Army service also extended into the era of the Indian Campaigns. However, participation in the Regular Army during that period does not by itself establish recipient-specific entitlement to the Indian Campaign Medal. Under the evidence standard used for this project, a campaign medal cannot be added simply because a soldier served during an eligible historical period or belonged to a unit that participated in qualifying operations. Because sufficiently strong recipient-specific evidence establishing an Indian Campaign Medal for Fuger has not been verified, that medal remains outside his final published rack. The same rule applies to the later Civil War Campaign Medal. Fuger’s Civil War service is unquestionably established, and his participation in the Battle of Gettysburg is documented beyond doubt. Nevertheless, the Civil War Campaign Medal was created many years after the conflict. Qualifying Civil War service establishes possible eligibility but does not independently prove that Frederick Fuger personally received or was issued that later campaign decoration. Without recipient-specific issuance or entitlement documentation, the medal remains on HOLD and is not included in his final verified rack. Fuger eventually retired from the United States Army after one of the longest careers among the surviving veterans associated with the Gettysburg artillery defense. His highest verified rank for the project is Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired. This must be distinguished from his much lower rank during the action that earned the Medal of Honor. At Gettysburg he was serving as a Sergeant in Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery; Lieutenant Colonel represents the highest rank connected with his later military career. This distinction illustrates the remarkable trajectory of Fuger’s service. He entered the American military as an immigrant enlisted soldier, became an experienced artillery noncommissioned officer, assumed responsibility for a shattered battery during one of the most important battles in American history, later received a commission, and eventually concluded his career as a senior retired Army officer. His combat specialty for the database is appropriately classified as Artillery. The defining action of his Medal of Honor career involved the operation and command of field artillery rather than infantry, cavalry or another combat specialty. His historically appropriate metadata therefore associates him with the United States Army, ground combat, the American Civil War and artillery service. Fuger lived for many years after his retirement and remained one of the surviving veterans connected with the defense of Cemetery Ridge. He died in 1913 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, placing his final resting place among generations of American military personnel. Frederick W. Fuger’s military legacy is inseparable from Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery and the final day at Gettysburg. On July 3, 1863, with the battery under devastating enemy fire, its officers killed or wounded and most of its guns disabled, Fuger assumed responsibility for what remained of the position. He continued fighting the surviving gun during the climactic Confederate attack until withdrawal was ordered. More than thirty years later, the United States formally recognized that conduct with the Medal of Honor. His final verified profile therefore records Frederick W. Fuger as a United States Army soldier and officer, Sergeant at the time of his Medal of Honor action, later Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired, and a member of Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery during the Battle of Gettysburg. His verified decoration is Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1897, issued on August 24, 1897, with no verified additional device or clasp. The Civil War Campaign Medal and Indian Campaign Medal remain excluded from the verified rack unless future recipient-specific evidence establishes individual entitlement. His story remains one of the strongest examples of artillery courage and battlefield responsibility during the defense of the Union center at Gettysburg.