James Kelly Leeper Duncan

He Threw a Burning Cartridge Overboard Under Fire

James Kelly Leeper Duncan, commonly recorded in official military records as James K. L. Duncan, was born on July 6, 1845, in Pennsylvania. During the American Civil War, he entered the United States Navy and became one of the young sailors whose courage aboard the Union gunboats helped secure control of the strategically important rivers of the South.

Duncan entered naval service during a period when the Union Navy was conducting extensive operations along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. These inland waterways were vital military routes, allowing troops, supplies, artillery, and warships to move deep into Confederate territory.

He eventually served aboard USS Fort Hindman, a Union gunboat operating on the western rivers.

Fort Hindman had originally been built as a civilian vessel before being acquired for military service. Like other river gunboats, the ship was used for patrols, support operations, reconnaissance, and engagements against Confederate forces positioned along the riverbanks.

Duncan served as an ordinary seaman and was assigned to the ship’s No. 2 gun. During combat he performed the role of first sponger, an essential position within a naval gun crew.

The sponger was responsible for helping prepare the gun after each discharge. Before another powder charge could safely be loaded, the interior of the cannon had to be properly cleared and extinguished so that lingering sparks would not ignite the next cartridge prematurely.

It was dangerous work even under normal combat conditions.

On March 2, 1864, USS Fort Hindman was operating near Harrisonburg, Louisiana, when the vessel came under Confederate artillery fire.

During the engagement, an enemy shell struck near the No. 2 gun.

The explosion created an immediate emergency.

A cartridge containing gunpowder caught fire near Duncan’s gun position. If the burning cartridge exploded inside the vessel, it could kill members of the gun crew, ignite additional ammunition, or cause catastrophic damage to the ship.

Duncan reacted without hesitation.

He seized the burning cartridge and threw it overboard.

The act exposed him to enormous personal danger. The cartridge could have exploded while he was holding it or before he could clear the side of the ship.

According to later testimony from one of his shipmates, the cartridge exploded before reaching the water.

The blast injured Duncan and seriously affected the hearing in his right ear.

Yet the burning charge had been removed from the gun position before it could cause even greater destruction aboard Fort Hindman.

Duncan did not withdraw from the engagement after the incident.

He continued performing his duties throughout the fighting.

His official Medal of Honor record emphasized both parts of his conduct: the extraordinary decision to remove the burning cartridge and his continued devotion to duty during the remainder of the action.

The incident demonstrated the particular dangers faced by sailors serving aboard Civil War river gunboats. Crews operated in confined wooden or armored vessels filled with gunpowder, shells, machinery, and combustible materials. A single fire near an ammunition supply could be as deadly as the enemy artillery outside the ship.

Duncan’s immediate response prevented such a danger from developing at his gun station.

Recognition followed quickly.

His actions near Harrisonburg were recognized under Navy Department General Order No. 32, dated April 16, 1864, and he received the Medal of Honor for his courage aboard USS Fort Hindman.

The Medal of Honor had been established only a few years earlier during the Civil War. Duncan therefore belonged to the early generation of Navy recipients whose decorations recognized extraordinary conduct during the conflict.

His award preserved a moment of courage that occurred not during a boarding action or hand-to-hand fight, but inside the dangerous environment of a gun crew under enemy fire.

Duncan’s naval career also included advancement in rating. Evidence from his later pension record indicates that he was promoted to seaman during March 1864. Because the exact effective date of that promotion is uncertain, his Medal of Honor action is most accurately associated with his verified rating of ordinary seaman, while seaman represents his highest supported naval rating.

His broader Civil War service is also represented by the Navy Civil War Campaign Medal.

The Navy’s Civil War campaign decoration was authorized in 1908 to recognize qualifying service by officers and enlisted personnel of the United States Navy and Marine Corps during the American Civil War.

For Duncan, the medal represents his wider qualifying naval service during the conflict, while the Medal of Honor recognizes the specific act of courage he performed aboard USS Fort Hindman on March 2, 1864.

The year 1908 refers to the authorization of the Navy campaign medal rather than to Duncan’s wartime service.

No devices are associated with either decoration in his record.

Duncan survived the war and lived for many decades afterward. Like many veterans, the physical consequences of his wartime service followed him into later life. Evidence preserved in pension testimony documented the hearing damage connected with the explosion during his Medal of Honor action and helped preserve additional detail about what happened aboard Fort Hindman.

Those later records are especially valuable because they reveal the human consequences hidden behind the brief language of military citations.

The official record describes a sailor removing a burning cartridge.

The fuller story shows a young man standing at a naval gun under Confederate fire, confronting a powder charge that could explode at any second, and choosing to carry it away from his fellow sailors.

James Kelly Leeper Duncan died on March 27, 1913.

He was buried at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

His military legacy remains centered on the events of March 2, 1864.

When a burning cartridge threatened the men around the No. 2 gun aboard USS Fort Hindman, Duncan did not retreat from the danger.

He picked it up.

He threw it overboard.

Then, despite the explosion and injury, he remained at his station and continued fighting.

For that courage, James Kelly Leeper Duncan received the Medal of Honor.

Together with the Navy Civil War Campaign Medal recognizing his broader qualifying naval service, his decorations preserve the story of a Union sailor whose quick action under fire protected his shipmates and prevented a dangerous battlefield emergency from becoming a disaster.