James H. Harris

James H. Harris was born in 1828 in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland. He came of age in a United States still deeply divided by slavery and racial inequality, and when the Civil War opened the door for large-scale African American enlistment in the Union Army, Harris became one of the thousands of Black men who entered military service. His wartime career eventually placed him in Company B of the 38th United States Colored Infantry, where he served as a Sergeant and became one of the African American soldiers whose courage at New Market Heights earned the nation’s highest military decoration. The 38th U.S. Colored Infantry was organized as part of the expanding United States Colored Troops system created during the Civil War. African American enlisted men served in these regiments while most commissioned officers were white. The soldiers faced the same battlefield dangers as other Union infantrymen while also confronting discrimination in pay, treatment, and opportunity. Capture by Confederate forces could expose Black soldiers to particularly severe treatment, making combat service in a USCT regiment especially hazardous. Harris rose to the rank of Sergeant, giving him important responsibilities within Company B. A Civil War sergeant was expected to help maintain discipline, relay commands, keep soldiers organized, and provide immediate leadership during marches and combat. Noncommissioned officers became particularly important when battlefield casualties disrupted the normal command structure. Harris’s verified highest rank remained Sergeant, and this was also the rank he held during the action that later brought him the Medal of Honor. By September 1864, Union forces were engaged in continuous operations around Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. General Ulysses S. Grant sought to stretch Confederate defenses, threaten the approaches to Richmond, and force General Robert E. Lee to divide his already limited forces. As part of this strategy, Union troops launched a major offensive north of the James River on September 29, 1864. One of the principal engagements of that offensive took place at New Market Heights. Confederate troops occupied a strong position protecting the approaches to Richmond. Their defenses included earthworks and physical obstacles positioned in front of the main line, creating a deadly zone that attacking troops would have to cross while exposed to rifle and artillery fire. United States Colored Troops were ordered into the assault. The advance became one of the most important demonstrations of African American combat effectiveness during the Civil War. The attacking formations had to move across exposed ground while Confederate defenders poured fire into their ranks. Officers, noncommissioned officers, color bearers, and ordinary soldiers suffered heavy casualties as the assault developed. Sergeant James H. Harris was serving with Company B of the 38th U.S. Colored Infantry when his regiment entered this fighting on September 29, 1864. The battle demanded extraordinary determination from the attacking troops. Soldiers had to continue moving forward despite severe casualties, disrupted formations, defensive obstacles, and sustained enemy fire. Harris distinguished himself through exceptional gallantry during the assault. His official Medal of Honor citation is remarkably concise: “Gallantry in the assault.” Those few words reflect the directness of his recognized achievement. His decoration was not based on a later administrative duty or general wartime service. It was awarded for the courage he displayed while taking part in a direct infantry attack against a fortified Confederate position. The brevity of the citation should not obscure the conditions under which Harris fought. New Market Heights was a brutal infantry engagement in which United States Colored Troops demonstrated that they could advance against prepared defenses under intense fire and continue fighting after suffering heavy losses. Harris’s conduct was distinguished within an action already characterized by exceptional danger. The Union assault eventually broke through the Confederate position. The success at New Market Heights contributed to the broader Union advance toward the Richmond defenses and became one of the most significant battlefield achievements of the United States Colored Troops. The performance of Black soldiers during the engagement challenged racist assumptions that had been used earlier in the war to argue against allowing African Americans to serve as combat troops. Harris was one of a remarkable group of African American soldiers whose courage during the September 29 operations received the Medal of Honor. Their recognition made the fighting around New Market Heights and Chaffin’s Farm one of the most important episodes in the history of Black military service in the United States. The significance of Harris’s action extended beyond his own regiment. African American soldiers entered the Civil War carrying a burden that white soldiers did not face. Their performance was constantly judged as evidence for or against the military capabilities of an entire race. At New Market Heights, men such as Harris demonstrated discipline, courage, and determination under some of the most difficult battlefield conditions imaginable. Harris remained associated with the 38th U.S. Colored Infantry through the later period of the war. The regiment continued military service as Union forces tightened their pressure on Confederate armies. When the principal Confederate resistance in Virginia collapsed in the spring of 1865, the wartime role of the United States Colored Troops was already firmly established. The 38th U.S. Colored Infantry did not immediately disappear after the end of the main fighting. Like several other Black regiments, it remained in Federal service during the postwar transition. These troops performed occupation and garrison duties at a time when the United States was attempting to restore Federal authority and address the consequences of emancipation and Confederate defeat. For Harris, formal national recognition of his battlefield courage came years after the battle. His action took place on September 29, 1864, but he was presented with the Medal of Honor on February 18, 1874. Nearly a decade therefore separated the assault at New Market Heights from the formal award. The Medal of Honor itself had been authorized for the United States Army in 1862. During the Civil War, it became the principal national decoration for exceptional military conduct. The extensive system of valor awards familiar from later American military history did not yet exist, making the Medal of Honor especially important as a formal recognition of extraordinary courage. For the historical database, Harris’s verified decoration is represented as Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1874. The 1862–1895 designation identifies the historical Army Medal of Honor period applicable when the award was presented, while 1874 records the year of formal recognition. His heroic action itself remained September 29, 1864, at New Market Heights. Harris received one Medal of Honor. No additional star, clasp, bar, oak leaf cluster, or other device has been verified with the decoration. His medal record therefore remains appropriately simple: a single Medal of Honor recognizing his gallantry during the assault. The delay between action and award demonstrates why the battlefield date and decoration date must remain separate in his historical record. Harris did not perform his Medal of Honor action in 1874. He earned the recognition through his conduct as a Sergeant of Company B, 38th U.S. Colored Infantry, during active combat in September 1864. The 1874 date records when the United States formally honored that action. After military service, Harris returned to civilian life. The surviving public record preserves far more information about his military achievement than about the details of his later employment and personal affairs. His status as a veteran of the United States Colored Troops and a Medal of Honor recipient, however, remained the defining elements of his historical legacy. Harris lived for more than three decades after the Civil War. He died on January 28, 1898. By that time, the generation that had fought the Civil War was aging, and the role of African American soldiers in Union victory was increasingly being commemorated by veterans, communities, and historical organizations. James H. Harris’s legacy rests on the courage he displayed at a moment when both his regiment and African American military service were being tested under fire. As a Sergeant of Company B, 38th U.S. Colored Infantry, he advanced against a fortified Confederate position at New Market Heights on September 29, 1864, and distinguished himself through gallantry in the assault. Nearly ten years later, the United States formally recognized that conduct with the Medal of Honor. His final verified decoration remains Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1874 — no device or clasp. His story stands not only as the record of one courageous soldier, but also as part of the larger history of the United States Colored Troops whose battlefield achievements helped secure Union victory and established an enduring place for African American soldiers in the military history of the United States.