Horatio Nelson Young

Horatio Nelson Young was a United States Navy sailor whose courage during the American Civil War earned him the Medal of Honor. Official Medal of Honor records list his birth as July 19, 1845, in Calais, Maine, although later local historical research has raised questions about the precise birthplace and has connected his birth with the neighboring St. Stephen–Dufferin Parish area of New Brunswick. Because Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, stand directly opposite one another across the St. Croix River, Young's early life was closely associated with this international border community.

Young entered naval service during the American Civil War, and his service was officially accredited to Boston, Massachusetts. He served in the United States Navy at the rating of Seaman, which remains both his action-time rating and his highest verified naval rating.

By 1863, Young was serving aboard USS Lehigh, a single-turreted ironclad monitor. Lehigh had been launched in January 1863 and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in April of that year. Soon afterward she joined Union naval operations along the Atlantic coast and was eventually assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston, South Carolina.

Charleston was one of the Confederacy's most important ports and one of the strongest defended harbors on the Atlantic coast. Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, coastal batteries, obstructions, and other Confederate defenses made naval operations in the harbor extremely dangerous.

USS Lehigh became part of the Union Navy's continuing effort to pressure Charleston and support Federal troops operating on nearby islands. In October and November 1863, the ironclad participated in bombardments connected with Union operations against the Confederate defenses, including attacks directed toward Fort Sumter.

The monitor's low profile and heavy armor offered protection against artillery fire, but the design also had limitations. Monitors had very little freeboard, depended on carefully controlled navigation in shallow coastal waters, and could become extremely vulnerable if they grounded within range of enemy batteries.

That danger became reality in November 1863.

On the evening of November 16, Confederate artillery at Fort Moultrie opened heavy fire in the Charleston area. Union commanders feared that the bombardment might be connected with a Confederate attempt against Federal positions on Morris Island, and naval vessels on picket duty were ordered forward to help protect the approaches.

USS Lehigh moved into position as part of this response. During the changing tide, however, the ironclad swung onto a sandbar and became grounded.

The situation rapidly became critical.

Once Confederate forces realized that the Union monitor could not maneuver, batteries opened a concentrated bombardment against the immobilized vessel. USS Lehigh was now sitting within range of Confederate artillery without the ability to move away.

The ironclad was struck repeatedly. Historical Navy records indicate that Lehigh received twenty-two hits during the bombardment. Several rounds struck her armored deck, and some penetrated or damaged the protective plating. Another hit damaged the hull sufficiently to create a leak.

The crew faced the possibility that continued Confederate fire could seriously disable the monitor while she remained trapped on the sandbar.

The nearby Union monitor USS Nahant was in a position to assist, but the two ships first had to be connected by a sufficiently strong towing hawser. Accomplishing that task required sailors to cross the exposed water between the vessels in a small open boat while Confederate artillery continued firing.

Several attempts were made.

Among the sailors involved in the earlier attempts were Gunner's Mate George W. Leland and Coxswain Thomas Irving. They succeeded in rowing across under fire, but the hawsers used during those efforts were cut or damaged, preventing the operation from immediately freeing Lehigh.

The repeated failures made the situation aboard the grounded monitor increasingly dangerous. Every additional minute exposed the stationary ironclad and her crew to further Confederate fire.

Seaman Horatio Nelson Young became one of the sailors who undertook another attempt.

Young entered a small boat and set out from the grounded USS Lehigh toward USS Nahant while the area remained under severe enemy fire. The boat carried a line connected with the heavy hawser that would ultimately allow the second monitor to exert enough force to pull Lehigh from the sandbar.

This was an exceptionally hazardous operation. A small boat offered virtually no protection against artillery fire, and the men carrying the line were exposed on the surface of Charleston Harbor while Confederate batteries continued firing against the Union vessels.

Young nevertheless successfully passed from Lehigh to Nahant with the line attached to the hawser.

His success allowed the towing connection to be established and enabled USS Nahant to help pull Lehigh free from her helpless position.

The action was not a conventional naval gun engagement in which Young fought from behind the armor of his ship. Instead, his courage consisted of leaving that protection and crossing open water in a small boat while enemy artillery was actively firing.

The risk was obvious. A shell striking the boat, the towing line, or the men handling it could have ended the effort immediately. Earlier attempts had already demonstrated how difficult it was to maintain the connection under Confederate fire.

Young's action therefore combined seamanship, determination, and extraordinary personal courage. The entire purpose of the mission was practical and urgent: establish the towing connection necessary to save the grounded Union ironclad.

USS Lehigh was successfully freed and continued serving in the Union Navy. The vessel later returned to operations with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and survived the Civil War.

Young's conduct on November 16, 1863, was recognized by the United States Navy only a few months later.

Under General Order No. 32, dated April 16, 1864, Horatio Nelson Young was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The Medal of Honor itself was still a very new decoration at that time. Congress had authorized the Navy Medal of Honor in December 1861, during the opening months of the Civil War. It was created to recognize enlisted sailors and Marines who distinguished themselves through exceptional gallantry and other extraordinary conduct.

The Army received its own Medal of Honor authorization in 1862. Together, these early Civil War awards established what would become the highest military decoration of the United States.

Young's award was therefore made during the original Civil War-era Navy Medal of Honor period. For the project database, the correct historical representation is Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — 1864.

The action itself occurred on November 16, 1863, but the award authority was General Order No. 32 of April 16, 1864. The 1864 year in the medal entry therefore reflects the formal award period, while the heroic action remains associated with Charleston Harbor in 1863.

Young's official citation records that USS Lehigh had grounded and was under heavy enemy fire from Fort Moultrie. After previous efforts had failed, Young succeeded in carrying a line from Lehigh to Nahant in a small boat with the line connected to a hawser. The operation enabled the trapped monitor to be freed.

No clasp, star, bar, or other device has been verified for Young's Medal of Honor. His verified award therefore consists of a single Medal of Honor without additional devices.

Young continued to be identified in official records at the rating of Seaman. No reliable recipient-specific evidence has been established showing that he later attained a higher naval rating, so Seaman remains his highest verified rank for database purposes.

The Medal of Honor is also the only military decoration that can presently be supported to the required recipient-specific standard for Young.

His Civil War service in the United States Navy and his survival into the twentieth century could make him appear generally eligible for the later Navy Civil War Medal. He was still alive after 1909, which satisfies the client's survival condition for considering that medal.

However, eligibility is not the same as documented receipt.

No sufficiently strong recipient-specific issuance or receipt record has been verified showing that Horatio Nelson Young personally received the Navy Civil War Medal. It therefore should not be included in his final verified ribbon rack.

After the Civil War, Young eventually returned to the border region where he had spent his early life. The surviving authoritative Medal of Honor records contain far more information about his wartime action than about his civilian occupation, family life, or other postwar activities. Those areas should therefore not be expanded with uncertain details.

What is firmly established is that Young lived for almost half a century after the action that earned him the Medal of Honor.

His home region remained closely connected across the international border between Maine and New Brunswick. Calais and St. Stephen had long functioned as neighboring communities linked by trade, employment, family relationships, and daily movement across the St. Croix River.

Young's final resting place reflects this cross-border connection.

Horatio Nelson Young died on July 3, 1913, in the Calais–Red Beach area of Maine. According to the official Medal of Honor record, he was sixty-seven years old.

He was buried in the Rural Cemetery at St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, only a short distance across the international boundary from his Maine hometown region.

His burial in Canada does not diminish his American naval service. Rather, it reflects the unusual geography and shared community history of the Calais–St. Stephen border area in which his life began and ended.

Young's military legacy remains centered on the events of November 16, 1863.

At only eighteen years of age, while serving as a Seaman aboard USS Lehigh, he found himself aboard an ironclad trapped on a sandbar within range of Confederate artillery.

The ship could not simply steam away. Confederate batteries were striking the monitor repeatedly, and previous attempts to establish a reliable towing connection had failed.

Young accepted the danger of leaving the relative protection of the armored ship and entering a small open boat.

Under severe enemy fire, he crossed from USS Lehigh toward USS Nahant while carrying the line needed for the towing hawser. His successful passage helped establish the connection that allowed the grounded monitor to be pulled away from its vulnerable position.

The episode demonstrated that naval courage during the Civil War was not limited to men firing cannon from warships. Sometimes the decisive act required a sailor to leave the armor behind and expose himself directly to enemy fire in order to save his ship.

For that courage, the United States Navy awarded Horatio Nelson Young the Medal of Honor under General Order No. 32 on April 16, 1864.

With no additional military decoration supported by sufficient recipient-specific evidence, Medal of Honor 1862–1912 Navy — 1864 remains Horatio Nelson Young's single verified medal and the defining official recognition of his courage during the American Civil War.