James Henry

James Henry was born on April 7, 1833, in Sunfish, Pike County, Ohio. During the American Civil War, he entered the United States Army and served with Company B of the 113th Illinois Infantry. His service was credited to Kankakee, Illinois. Henry served as an enlisted infantryman and eventually attained the rank of First Sergeant, although he was serving as a Sergeant at the time of the action for which he later received the Medal of Honor. By the spring of 1863, the 113th Illinois Infantry was taking part in the Union campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi. Vicksburg was one of the Confederacy's most important fortified positions on the Mississippi River. Its capture would give the Union greater control of the river and divide the Confederacy geographically. The city's defenses, however, were protected by strong earthworks, artillery positions, rifle pits, and difficult terrain. Union forces under Major General Ulysses S. Grant reached the defenses of Vicksburg in May 1863. An initial assault on May 19 failed to break the Confederate line. Grant ordered another major attack for May 22, hoping that a coordinated assault against several parts of the defensive system could force a breakthrough before a prolonged siege became necessary. One of the most dangerous assignments of the May 22 attack fell to a group of volunteers who became known as the "volunteer storming party" or "Forlorn Hope." Their task placed them at the front of the assault against the Confederate defenses near the Stockade Redan. The position was heavily fortified, and the approach exposed the attacking soldiers to intense Confederate fire. The National Park Service later recorded that the advance force consisted of approximately 110 volunteer Union soldiers and that only a small number returned without being killed, wounded, or otherwise disabled. Sergeant James Henry was among the men who volunteered for this extraordinarily dangerous operation. The assault required soldiers to move ahead of the main attacking force toward the Confederate works under direct enemy fire. The volunteers understood that their assignment carried an exceptionally high risk of death or serious injury, yet Henry went forward with the storming party. On May 22, 1863, the volunteers advanced toward the Confederate defenses at Vicksburg. The terrain itself made the attack extremely difficult. Ravines and narrow approaches restricted movement while Confederate defenders occupied elevated fortified positions. As the Union soldiers advanced, they came under heavy rifle and artillery fire. The attacking troops struggled to reach the works and were eventually unable to break the Confederate defensive line. Henry's official Medal of Honor citation is deliberately brief, recognizing his "gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party." Although the surviving citation does not attribute a separate individual feat such as capturing a flag or enemy position to him, his voluntary participation in the leading assault force placed him among the soldiers who deliberately accepted one of the most hazardous battlefield assignments of the Vicksburg Campaign. The assault of May 22 failed to capture Vicksburg by direct attack. After suffering heavy losses in the assaults of May 19 and May 22, Grant shifted his strategy and began formal siege operations. Union forces gradually tightened their hold around the city, while Confederate troops and civilians inside Vicksburg endured increasing shortages. On July 4, 1863, the Confederate garrison surrendered, giving the Union one of its most important strategic victories of the Civil War. James Henry continued his Army service beyond the action that made him famous. His military record ultimately shows advancement to First Sergeant, making that his highest verified rank. This distinction is important to his profile: his Medal of Honor action occurred while he was a Sergeant, whereas First Sergeant represents the highest rank he later attained. The decoration associated with Henry's heroism is the Medal of Honor. Congress had authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862, only a year before the Vicksburg Campaign. During the Civil War, it became the principal federal military decoration for extraordinary acts of gallantry and distinguished conduct. The United States had not yet developed the broader system of valor decorations that would appear in later generations, giving the Medal of Honor a particularly important place in Civil War military recognition. Henry did not receive his Medal of Honor immediately after the battle. More than thirty years passed before his actions at Vicksburg received formal recognition. On July 9, 1894, James Henry was presented with the Medal of Honor for his gallantry during the charge of the volunteer storming party on May 22, 1863. For the VictoriaCross.ca database, his award is represented as Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1894. The date reflects the year in which the award was formally presented, while the decoration itself belongs to the original nineteenth-century Army Medal of Honor system. No additional clasp, bar, star, or other ribbon device has been verified for Henry's Medal of Honor, so his decoration is represented without an additional attachment. Henry's award also places him within a remarkable group of Vicksburg Medal of Honor recipients. Dozens of soldiers who took part in the Forlorn Hope were later recognized for their gallantry. Their awards preserved the memory of an operation in which ordinary enlisted soldiers voluntarily stepped forward for an assignment whose extreme danger was understood before the assault even began. After the Civil War, Henry returned to civilian life. The surviving authoritative military record preserves considerably more detail about his wartime service and Medal of Honor action than about his later private activities, so uncertain postwar details should not be expanded beyond what can be securely documented. What remains established is that he survived the war, lived for several decades afterward, and eventually received formal national recognition for the courage he had demonstrated as a young Union sergeant. James Henry died on June 7, 1911, in Geneva, Illinois. He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Geneva. By the time of his death, nearly half a century had passed since the Vicksburg Campaign, and the soldiers of the Civil War were increasingly becoming part of national historical memory. James Henry's military legacy is centered on May 22, 1863. As a Sergeant in Company B, 113th Illinois Infantry, he voluntarily joined the storming party that advanced against the heavily fortified defenses of Vicksburg under devastating enemy fire. He survived the assault, later rose to First Sergeant, and more than three decades afterward received the Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1894. His decoration permanently connects his name with the courage of the volunteers who led one of the most dangerous Union assaults of the Vicksburg Campaign.