George William Tyrrell

He Charged Through Fire and Took Their Flag

George William Tyrrell was born in Ireland in 1842 and later came to the United States. By the time of the American Civil War, he had entered Union military service from Hamilton County, Ohio, and was serving in Company H of the 5th Ohio Infantry. His surviving official record is much stronger concerning his military achievement than his early civilian or later personal life, but it establishes him firmly as an Irish-born Union soldier whose courage at the Battle of Resaca earned the Medal of Honor.

The 5th Ohio Infantry was one of the veteran Union regiments raised in Ohio. Organized for three years of service at Camp Dennison in June 1861, the regiment became part of a force that campaigned across several major theaters of the Civil War. Its documented service included operations in western Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Over the course of the war, the 5th Ohio participated in major campaigns that reflected the changing strategic demands placed on veteran Union units. The regiment fought in the Shenandoah Valley, served during the Maryland Campaign, participated at Antietam, later took part in the Gettysburg Campaign, and was eventually transferred west with other veteran formations.

In the Western Theater, the regiment became part of the Army of the Cumberland. It took part in the Chattanooga-Ringgold operations of late 1863, including the fighting around Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, before preparing for the campaign that would carry Union armies deep into Georgia.

By the spring of 1864, Major General William T. Sherman was preparing the coordinated offensive that became known as the Atlanta Campaign. Sherman’s armies aimed to drive south from the Chattanooga region, defeat or maneuver around General Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate Army of Tennessee, and capture Atlanta, one of the Confederacy’s most important military and transportation centers.

The campaign opened in early May. Confederate forces initially occupied formidable positions around Rocky Face Ridge and Dalton, Georgia. Rather than destroy his army in repeated frontal attacks, Sherman maneuvered against Johnston’s communications, forcing the Confederate commander to withdraw toward Resaca.

The Battle of Resaca developed on May 14 and 15, 1864. Confederate forces established strong defensive lines around the town, taking advantage of ridges, earthworks, and natural obstacles. Union forces moved against these positions in a series of difficult attacks.

George William Tyrrell entered this battle as a Corporal in Company H of the 5th Ohio Infantry.

The rank of Corporal placed him among the regiment’s noncommissioned officers. Although below Sergeant, a Corporal carried real responsibility within an infantry company. He was expected to maintain discipline, assist in controlling small groups of soldiers, transmit orders, and provide immediate leadership in the confusion of combat.

On May 14, the fighting around Resaca intensified as Union troops tested and attacked the Confederate defensive line. Infantrymen advanced through terrain broken by woods, ridges, fields, and defensive works while artillery and musket fire swept the approaches.

It was during this fighting that Tyrrell performed the act that would define his military career.

He captured an enemy flag.

His official Medal of Honor citation contains only three words: “Capture of flag.”

The extraordinary brevity of that citation should not be mistaken for a minor achievement. During the Civil War, regimental and battle flags had enormous tactical and symbolic importance. In the smoke and confusion of nineteenth-century combat, soldiers often used their colors to determine where their regiment was positioned. Commanders used the flag as a visible rallying point, and troops were expected to maintain formation around it.

A regiment’s colors also represented its identity and honor. They were frequently carried through the most dangerous part of the battlefield and defended by a dedicated color guard.

Because the flag occupied such an important position within the formation, approaching and capturing enemy colors was usually extremely hazardous. A soldier attempting to seize a Confederate flag often had to move directly into or very near an organized enemy force.

Color bearers themselves were particularly exposed. They could not easily conceal themselves because the purpose of the flag was to remain visible. When one color bearer fell, another soldier was often expected to take up the colors immediately.

For an opposing soldier, capturing such a flag could require courage at close range, rapid movement, and willingness to remain exposed to enemy fire.

At Resaca on May 14, 1864, Corporal George William Tyrrell succeeded in doing exactly that.

The surviving Medal of Honor citation does not provide an elaborate narrative identifying the Confederate regiment, describing a hand-to-hand struggle, or specifying precisely how Tyrrell obtained the flag. Under a strict historical standard, those details should not be invented.

What is firmly established is that he captured enemy colors during active combat at Resaca and that the United States Army judged this action sufficiently distinguished to merit the nation’s highest military decoration.

The achievement took place during the opening phase of one of the most important Union campaigns of 1864.

Although the Union army did not destroy Johnston’s force at Resaca, the pressure placed on the Confederate position forced another withdrawal. Sherman continued driving south through Georgia, beginning the long sequence of maneuvers and battles that eventually brought Union forces to Atlanta.

The 5th Ohio Infantry remained involved in the Atlanta Campaign after Resaca. The regiment’s documented service included operations near Cassville, New Hope Church, Dallas, Allatoona Hills, Marietta, Kennesaw Mountain, the Chattahoochee River, and ultimately the operations surrounding Atlanta.

The regiment later participated in the March to the Sea and the Campaign of the Carolinas before the final Confederate surrender in the spring of 1865.

Tyrrell’s personal Medal of Honor record, however, remains centered on Resaca.

At the time of the action, he was a Corporal. His official Medal of Honor record later identifies First Sergeant as his highest rank.

This distinction is important.

He earned the Medal of Honor as Corporal George William Tyrrell of Company H, 5th Ohio Infantry. His later advancement to First Sergeant represented the highest rank preserved in his authoritative record, but it does not change the rank under which his heroic action occurred.

First Sergeant was a significant senior enlisted position in a Civil War infantry company. The First Sergeant was normally the highest-ranking enlisted soldier in the company and played a central role in administration, discipline, formations, duty assignments, and communication between enlisted men and company officers.

Tyrrell’s eventual attainment of that rank indicates that his military career developed beyond his status as Corporal at Resaca.

Formal recognition of his flag capture came relatively quickly compared with many Civil War Medal of Honor recipients.

On April 7, 1865, George William Tyrrell was presented with the Medal of Honor.

The timing was remarkable.

His heroic action had occurred on May 14, 1864. Less than eleven months later, as the Civil War was entering its final days, his courage received formal national recognition.

Only two days after Tyrrell’s Medal of Honor presentation, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Tyrrell therefore received the nation’s highest military decoration at the very moment when four years of devastating Civil War combat were reaching their decisive conclusion.

The Medal of Honor itself had been established during the war.

Congress authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862. At the time, the United States did not possess the extensive system of military valor decorations that developed in later generations. Decorations such as the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star did not yet exist in their later forms.

For Union soldiers of the Civil War, the Medal of Honor became the principal federal decoration used to recognize exceptional battlefield conduct.

Flag captures became a particularly prominent category of Medal of Honor action during the conflict. This reflected both the extraordinary danger involved and the military significance attached to capturing enemy colors.

Tyrrell’s award belongs directly to this original Civil War Medal of Honor tradition.

For the historical database, his verified decoration is represented as Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1865.

The 1862–1895 designation identifies the historical Army Medal of Honor period applicable when Tyrrell received his decoration.

The year 1865 records the formal presentation year.

His heroic action itself occurred at Resaca on May 14, 1864.

Keeping those dates separate is essential to accurately representing his medal history. Tyrrell did not capture the Confederate flag in 1865; he captured it during the battle in 1864. April 7, 1865 records when the United States formally presented him with the Medal of Honor for that action.

Tyrrell received one Medal of Honor.

No additional star, clasp, bar, oak leaf cluster, or other device has been verified with the decoration.

His final verified award therefore remains Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1865 — no device or clasp.

What happened to Tyrrell after his military service is far less securely documented than his wartime achievement. The surviving authoritative Medal of Honor record does not provide a verified death date or burial location, and those details should not be filled in through speculation or by confusing him with another person who shared the Tyrrell surname.

This gap in the surviving record makes his Medal of Honor documentation particularly important. Even where later biographical details have been lost or remain uncertain, the essential military facts survive.

He was born in Ireland in 1842.

He entered United States Army service from Hamilton County, Ohio.

He served in Company H of the 5th Ohio Infantry.

He was a Corporal when he fought at Resaca on May 14, 1864.

During that battle he captured an enemy flag.

He later attained the rank of First Sergeant.

And on April 7, 1865, the United States formally recognized his courage with the Medal of Honor.

Those facts preserve the core of George William Tyrrell’s military legacy.

His story also reflects the contribution of immigrants to the Union war effort. An Irish-born soldier serving in an Ohio regiment became part of a massive national army and ultimately fought hundreds of miles from Ohio in the mountains and valleys of Georgia.

At Resaca, his military career was condensed into a single dramatic act.

Amid the smoke, gunfire, defensive lines, and confusion of battle, Corporal George William Tyrrell reached enemy colors and captured them.

The official citation needed only three words to record what he had done.

“Capture of flag.”

Almost a year later, that act brought him the United States’ highest military decoration.

His final verified decoration remains Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1865 — no device or clasp.

Although much of his later personal history remains unknown, the moment that earned him national recognition is permanently preserved: an Irish-born Union Corporal advancing through the Battle of Resaca and returning with the enemy’s flag.