George Green (Medal of Honor)

George Green was born on July 16, 1840, in Elsham, England. At some point during his early life he emigrated to the United States, where he became associated with Ohio. When the American Civil War began in 1861, Green entered Union military service and became a soldier in Company H of the 11th Ohio Infantry. His service placed him in the United States Army during one of the most destructive conflicts in American history.

Green initially served as an enlisted infantryman and eventually attained the rank of Corporal. This was also his verified rank at the action for which he later received the Medal of Honor, and no higher military rank has been securely established for his record. His historical branch is therefore correctly recorded as the United States Army, with Infantry as the appropriate combat specialty.

The 11th Ohio Infantry served extensively during the Civil War. During its wartime history, the regiment participated in major campaigns and battles across several theaters, including operations in western Virginia, the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Antietam, the Tullahoma Campaign, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Siege of Chattanooga, and the fighting around Missionary Ridge. By late 1863, the regiment had become part of the Union forces concentrated around Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The military situation at Chattanooga had become critical after the Union defeat at Chickamauga in September 1863. Confederate forces occupied the high ground surrounding the city and placed the Union Army under severe pressure. Missionary Ridge formed one of the principal Confederate defensive positions east of Chattanooga. The ridge provided commanding terrain from which Confederate troops could observe and resist Union movements below.

In November 1863, Union commanders launched a major offensive to break the Confederate position around Chattanooga. The fighting developed across several days, culminating on November 25 in the Union assault against Missionary Ridge. What began as an advance against Confederate positions at the base of the ridge developed into one of the most famous attacks of the Civil War as Union soldiers continued upward against strong enemy resistance.

Corporal George Green advanced with Company H of the 11th Ohio Infantry during this attack. The climb toward the Confederate defensive line was extremely difficult. Union soldiers had to cross exposed ground and then ascend the steep slopes of Missionary Ridge while facing fire from Confederate troops positioned above them.

Green continued forward until he reached the Confederate works at the crest. Rather than stopping at the defensive line, he scaled the enemy fortifications and entered into close combat. During the fighting he became involved in a hand-to-hand struggle connected with the colors of the 18th Alabama Infantry.

The capture of an enemy regimental flag carried enormous military and symbolic importance during the Civil War. Regimental colors served as rallying points in battle, allowing soldiers to locate their formation amid smoke, confusion, and rapidly changing conditions. A regiment's flag represented its identity and honor, and defending or capturing colors often involved intense close-range fighting.

During the assault, Green helped capture the flag of the 18th Alabama Infantry. His official Medal of Honor citation later summarized his conduct by recording that he scaled the enemy's works and, in a hand-to-hand fight, helped capture the Confederate regiment's flag. This was the specific battlefield action upon which his Medal of Honor recognition was based.

Green was not the only member of Company H whose conduct at Missionary Ridge received national recognition. Several soldiers of the 11th Ohio Infantry distinguished themselves during the assault, demonstrating how intense the fighting became when the regiment reached the Confederate line. The actions of these men formed part of the larger Union breakthrough on Missionary Ridge.

The Confederate position eventually collapsed under the pressure of the Union advance. Soldiers who had occupied what appeared to be an exceptionally strong defensive line were forced to withdraw, and the Union victory effectively ended the Confederate siege of Chattanooga. The success opened the way for further Federal operations into the Deep South and helped establish Chattanooga as an important base for the campaigns that followed.

Although Green's heroic action occurred on November 25, 1863, he did not immediately receive the Medal of Honor. Nearly three decades passed before the United States formally recognized his conduct. This long delay was not unusual among Civil War Medal of Honor recipients. Numerous wartime actions were reviewed years after the conflict, and veterans sometimes received decorations decades after the events for which they were honored.

On January 12, 1892, George Green was presented with the Medal of Honor for his actions at Missionary Ridge. The award was made during his lifetime and was therefore not posthumous. At the time of the presentation, Green was more than twenty-eight years removed from the day when he had scaled the Confederate works and helped seize the colors of the 18th Alabama Infantry.

The Medal of Honor itself originated during the Civil War. Congress first authorized the Navy Medal of Honor in December 1861, followed by authorization of an Army version in July 1862. At a time when the United States possessed relatively few formal military decorations, the Medal of Honor became the country's principal award for exceptional military conduct.

Because Green's Medal of Honor was issued in 1892, the appropriate historical representation for the VictoriaCross.ca database is Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1892. The date range identifies the historical Army Medal of Honor design period applicable to his award; it does not change the fact that his qualifying heroic action occurred at Missionary Ridge in 1863.

Green received one Medal of Honor. No additional clasp, star, bar, oak leaf cluster, or other separate device has been verified for this decoration. His final Medal of Honor entry should therefore remain plain, without an added device.

A separate Army Civil War Campaign Medal has not been included in Green's verified ribbon rack. His Civil War service and participation in the conflict are beyond question, but qualifying wartime service by itself does not establish recipient-specific entitlement to a medal created later. Without documentary evidence demonstrating that George Green himself was issued or specifically entitled to the Civil War Campaign Medal, it remains outside his final verified medal record. His confirmed decoration therefore remains the Medal of Honor alone.

The 11th Ohio Infantry continued operating after Missionary Ridge, and the regiment later participated in additional campaigning before the original three-year soldiers completed their service. Green ultimately returned to civilian life after his military career. His surviving official Medal of Honor record preserves far more detail about his battlefield heroism than about his later civilian occupation, and uncertain aspects of his postwar life should not be expanded beyond what reliable documentation establishes.

Green spent the later years of his life in Ohio. His Medal of Honor remained a tangible connection to the Civil War and to one of the most dramatic Union victories of the Chattanooga Campaign. The decoration is especially significant because it recognized a specific act of close combat rather than a general record of long service: scaling an enemy defensive position and helping seize a Confederate battle flag in hand-to-hand fighting.

George Green died on February 10, 1898, in Troy, Ohio, approximately six years after receiving the Medal of Honor. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Troy. His Medal of Honor survived him and has remained connected with the local historical record of his life and military service.

Green's military legacy is centered on the events of November 25, 1863. As a Corporal in Company H, 11th Ohio Infantry, he advanced with Union forces against the formidable defenses of Missionary Ridge. He reached the Confederate works, crossed them, entered close combat, and helped capture the flag of the 18th Alabama Infantry. Nearly three decades later, the United States formally recognized that action with its highest military decoration.

George Green is therefore remembered as a United States Army Corporal, an infantry soldier of the American Civil War, a veteran of the 11th Ohio Infantry, and a Medal of Honor recipient whose defining act occurred during the Union assault on Missionary Ridge. His final verified award record remains Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1892 — No device or clasp.