Henry Harrison Bingham

Henry Harrison Bingham was a Union Army officer, combat veteran, judge advocate, Medal of Honor recipient, and longtime United States Congressman whose career linked the battlefields of the American Civil War with more than three decades of national public service. Official congressional and Medal of Honor records identify him as Henry Harrison Bingham, although some later historical scholarship gives the expanded name William Henry Harrison Bingham. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 4, 1841. Bingham attended Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1862, just as the Civil War was expanding dramatically. He had also begun studying law, an interest that would later become important during his military service. Instead of immediately pursuing a civilian legal career, however, he entered the Union Army. During the summer of 1862, Bingham helped organize the company that became Company G of the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. The company included a number of men connected with Jefferson College. Bingham entered service as First Lieutenant on August 22, 1862, and was promoted to Captain on September 9, placing him in command of Company G. The 140th Pennsylvania was assigned to the Army of the Potomac’s II Corps. By the spring of 1863, Bingham was detailed for staff duty and was serving in a legal capacity with the division commanded by Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. Although his assignment increasingly involved judge advocate work, he remained formally connected with the 140th Pennsylvania during the period that included his Medal of Honor action. His first major campaigning with the II Corps included the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Bingham’s wartime responsibilities as a staff officer were broader than modern legal duties. During combat he carried messages, communicated orders between commanders, assisted with logistical needs, and performed whatever battlefield tasks were required by the commanding general. During Chancellorsville, Bingham repeatedly operated under fire while carrying communications between headquarters, the picket line, and subordinate commands. Hancock later commended members of his staff, including Bingham, for performing their duties with gallantry. Only two months later, Bingham accompanied Hancock during the Gettysburg Campaign. At Gettysburg, the II Corps became one of the most important formations defending the center of the Union line along Cemetery Ridge. On July 3, 1863, Confederate troops launched the massive assault remembered as Pickett’s Charge. During the fighting, Confederate Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead led troops across the stone wall at the position later known as the Angle. Armistead was seriously wounded after penetrating the Union defenses. Bingham, who had himself suffered a slight wound to the head during the battle, encountered the wounded Confederate general. Armistead asked that personal belongings and a message be conveyed to his prewar friend Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, who had also been wounded nearby. Bingham took responsibility for Armistead’s effects and carried out the request. The meeting between Bingham and Armistead later became surrounded by considerable legend, especially because both men were Freemasons. Later artistic and popular accounts often dramatized the encounter far beyond what the surviving historical record proves. What is securely documented is that Bingham encountered the mortally wounded Armistead, received his personal effects, and helped convey his message to Hancock. After Gettysburg, Bingham continued serving on Hancock’s staff and accompanied the II Corps through subsequent operations in Virginia. His reputation for courage grew as he repeatedly performed staff duties close to active fighting rather than remaining safely behind the battle line. The action that ultimately earned him the Medal of Honor occurred during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. The Wilderness opened Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The battlefield was covered by dense woods, undergrowth, narrow roads, and limited visibility, making organized movement exceptionally difficult. On May 6, Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet launched a powerful counterattack against the Union II Corps. Portions of Hancock’s force were driven back, and the retreat threatened to spread as units became disorganized in the woods. Captain Henry Harrison Bingham responded directly to the crisis. He moved among troops who had given way under the Confederate assault, rallied a portion of them, reorganized them, and personally led them back into action. His later Medal of Honor citation preserved the essential achievement in concise terms: he rallied and led into action a portion of the troops who had given way under the fierce assaults of the enemy. At the time of this action Bingham was still technically an infantry officer of Company G, 140th Pennsylvania Infantry, even though he was performing detached staff and acting judge advocate duties. For database purposes, his correct Medal of Honor action rank is therefore Captain, and his Combat Achievement classification remains Infantry. The Overland Campaign continued almost without pause. Grant moved south rather than retreating after the Wilderness, bringing the armies together again at Spotsylvania Court House. At Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864, the II Corps participated in some of the most severe close-range fighting of the entire Civil War. Bingham again operated in the combat zone and was badly wounded in the thigh. The wound temporarily removed him from active campaigning. After a period of convalescence and duty connected with courts-martial in Philadelphia, Bingham returned to the Army of the Potomac. His legal responsibilities were soon formalized. In September 1864, he left his regimental commission and received appointment as Major and Judge Advocate of U.S. Volunteers. This represented an important transition in his military career. He was no longer simply an infantry officer detailed to staff work; he was now formally serving as an Army judge advocate. His legal title did not remove him from battlefield danger. On October 27, 1864, during the Battle of Boydton Plank Road, Bingham was carrying dispatches for Hancock when Confederate forces captured him. He did not remain a prisoner for long. During the same night, he escaped and returned to Union lines. Bingham continued serving through the final campaign against Lee’s army. On April 7, 1865, during fighting near Farmville, Virginia, only two days before Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Bingham was wounded again. This was the third major battle wound recorded during his military career, following Gettysburg and Spotsylvania. The war ended shortly afterward, but Bingham remained in military service during the early postwar period. His service brought a series of brevet promotions recognizing his conduct and wartime responsibilities. He received recognition as Brevet Major for good conduct and conspicuous gallantry, particularly in connection with Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. He subsequently received brevet advancement to Lieutenant Colonel for meritorious service during the campaign ending with Lee’s surrender. Further brevet recognition ultimately elevated him to Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General of U.S. Volunteers, with seniority associated with April 9, 1865. Brevet Brigadier General therefore represents his highest verified military rank. This must remain separate from his Medal of Honor action rank. At the Wilderness on May 6, 1864, he was Captain Henry Harrison Bingham. His highest later rank was Brevet Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers. Bingham remained in the Army until July 2, 1866, completing almost four years of military service. His Medal of Honor, however, did not come immediately after the Civil War. Nearly three decades passed before his Wilderness action was formally selected for recognition. In 1893, Quartermaster General Richard N. Batchelder, who had served with the II Corps during the war, recommended Bingham for the Medal of Honor. The War Department required that the recommendation identify a specific act of battlefield gallantry rather than relying simply on Bingham’s impressive overall war record. The incident selected was Hancock’s documented account of Bingham’s conduct at the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. The exact administrative date associated with the award differs slightly among surviving records. Congressional records place the award action in late August 1893, while Medal of Honor records give August 31, 1893 as the presentation or issue date. What is securely established for the database is that the Medal of Honor was awarded in 1893. Because the award itself was issued in 1893, the correct project classification is: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1893. The Army Medal of Honor had originally been authorized by Congress in 1862 during the Civil War. At that time, the United States did not possess the extensive system of personal valor decorations developed during the twentieth century. The Medal of Honor therefore became the principal national decoration for extraordinary military conduct. Many Civil War soldiers received the decoration years or even decades after their actions as official reports and surviving evidence were reviewed. Bingham’s case belongs to this later period of Civil War recognition. His award was not posthumous. He personally received the Medal of Honor while serving as a member of Congress. No bar, clasp, star, oak leaf cluster, or other additional device has been verified for his Medal of Honor. His final Medal of Honor entry therefore remains one plain decoration with no device or clasp. The Army Civil War Campaign Medal is not included in his final verified rack. Bingham lived until 1912 and therefore survived into the period when the Army Civil War Campaign Medal existed. His extensive Civil War service would make historical eligibility appear plausible. However, under the project’s evidence standard, survival into the medal’s era and qualifying wartime service cannot be treated as recipient-specific proof of issuance. No sufficiently strong individual issuance record has been verified demonstrating that Henry Harrison Bingham personally received the Army Civil War Campaign Medal. It therefore remains HOLD / DO NOT ADD. His final verified medal rack contains only: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1893 — No device or clasp. After leaving the Army, Bingham returned to Philadelphia and entered public service. In March 1867, he was appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia. He remained in that position until December 1872, when he resigned after being elected to the clerkship of Philadelphia’s courts of oyer and terminer and quarter sessions of the peace. He was subsequently reelected to the court position. His growing political career eventually brought him to Congress. In 1878, Bingham was elected as a Republican to represent Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District. He entered the House of Representatives on March 4, 1879. What followed was one of the longest congressional careers of his generation. Bingham was reelected to sixteen successive Congresses after his first election and remained in the House continuously until his death. His congressional service therefore lasted approximately thirty-three years. During his time in Washington, Bingham became particularly associated with postal affairs and matters affecting Philadelphia. He chaired the House Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads during multiple Congresses and later chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department. His longevity and experience eventually made him one of the senior figures of the House, and in his later years he was sometimes described as the “Father of the House.” Bingham also maintained strong connections with Civil War veterans. He was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, the major organization representing Union veterans, and regularly participated in commemorations of the war. His relationship with Winfield Scott Hancock continued long after their Army service ended, despite their later political differences. Hancock became the Democratic presidential nominee in 1880, while Bingham remained a Republican congressman, but their wartime friendship endured until Hancock’s death in 1886. In 1896, Bingham returned to Gettysburg as the principal speaker at the dedication of the equestrian monument honoring Major General Hancock on the battlefield. By then, Bingham had become both a nationally recognized legislator and one of the surviving witnesses to some of the Civil War’s most famous events. Henry Harrison Bingham died in Philadelphia on March 22, 1912, while still serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives. He was seventy years old. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. His life connected two major eras of American history. As a young officer, he fought through the Civil War, served with Hancock’s II Corps, was wounded repeatedly, survived capture and escape, performed legal duties as a judge advocate, and rose to Brevet Brigadier General. As a civilian, he became postmaster of Philadelphia, a court official, veterans’ leader, and one of the longest-serving members of Congress of his time. At the center of his military legacy remains May 6, 1864. During the Battle of the Wilderness, when part of the Union line gave way under a powerful Confederate assault, Captain Henry Harrison Bingham rallied retreating soldiers and personally led them back into action. Nearly thirty years later, that specific act was formally recognized with the Medal of Honor. His final verified military profile therefore records Henry Harrison Bingham as a United States Army officer, Captain at his Medal of Honor action, Brevet Brigadier General as his highest verified rank, Company G, 140th Pennsylvania Infantry as his Medal of Honor unit, and Infantry as his Combat Achievement classification. His sole verified decoration remains Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1893, with no verified device or clasp, while the Army Civil War Campaign Medal remains excluded without recipient-specific entitlement evidence.