Harry Harvey (Medal of Honor, 1865)

He took the flag and its bearer, and captured two other men.

Harry Harvey was born in England on 14 December 1846. His family name was Huckman, and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society preserves that alternative identity alongside the name under which he received his decoration. He served in the Union army as a corporal in Company A of the 22nd New York Cavalry, with his enlistment credited to Rochester, New York.

On 2 March 1865 his regiment took part in the fighting at Waynesboro, Virginia. Harvey was eighteen. In that action he captured a Confederate flag, its bearer and two additional prisoners. The capture brought together a battlefield symbol and three opposing soldiers, the specific achievement for which his superiors recommended him.

The official citation reads: “Capture of flag and bearer, with two other prisoners.” His Medal of Honor was dated 26 March 1865, less than a month after the fighting (Congressional Medal of Honor Society, official citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/harry-harvey-1).

Harvey survived the war and lived in New York. He died at Elmwood on 2 April 1896, aged forty-nine, and was buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in the Syracuse area. The name Harry Harvey therefore belongs to an English-born Civil War cavalryman, not the Marine sergeant of the same name who later received a Medal of Honor for action in the Philippines.

His surviving decoration is recorded in the care of the Center for Legislative Archives at the United States National Archives. The medal, the official citation and the preserved Huckman alias keep the record of the young corporal's capture distinct from the achievements of other servicemen with the same name.