James Robinson Durham

James Robinson Durham was born on February 7, 1833, in Richmond, Virginia. He grew up in the city and received his early education there before learning the drug business, an occupation that would form part of his civilian life before the American Civil War. In 1858 he moved west to Clarksburg, in what was then northwestern Virginia. The region would soon become deeply divided by the secession crisis, and the counties around Clarksburg became an important center of Union support. When the Civil War began, Durham sided with the Union. His decision was particularly significant because he had been born in Virginia, yet he cast his military service with the United States at a time when political loyalties across the western counties were being tested. In 1862 he entered the United States Army as a commissioned officer in Company E of the 12th West Virginia Infantry. Durham held the rank of Second Lieutenant when he entered the regiment. Company E had been recruited largely from Harrison County, the area that included Clarksburg, and the 12th West Virginia became part of the Union military establishment operating through western Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. By early 1863 the regiment was serving in the Middle Department and became associated with Major General Robert H. Milroy's command at Winchester, Virginia. Winchester occupied a strategically important position at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley. The town repeatedly changed hands during the war because the valley provided a natural military corridor between Virginia and the northern states. In June 1863, the strategic situation around Winchester changed dramatically. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had begun his second invasion of the North, a movement that would eventually culminate at Gettysburg. Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell's Confederate corps advanced through the Shenandoah Valley as part of that campaign and moved against Milroy's Union garrison at Winchester. The resulting fighting became known as the Second Battle of Winchester. Confederate forces maneuvered around the Union defenses and brought increasing pressure against Milroy's position. The engagement placed Union units in a difficult situation as Confederate troops attacked prepared positions and threatened the routes by which the garrison might withdraw. On June 14, 1863, Second Lieutenant James Robinson Durham distinguished himself during this fighting. He was serving with Company E of the 12th West Virginia Infantry when his command was required to move forward against the enemy. Durham personally led his soldiers over a stone wall during the action. The obstacle represented more than a simple physical barrier; crossing it meant leaving whatever protection it offered and moving directly into the contested ground beyond. Durham went forward with his command rather than directing the movement from the rear. During the advance he was wounded. His later Medal of Honor citation preserved the event in exceptionally concise language, emphasizing two facts that defined the action: he led his command over the stone wall, and he was wounded while doing so. The brevity of the citation should not obscure the nature of the act. Civil War infantry officers were expected to maintain control of formations under fire, but leading men across an exposed obstacle during an active engagement required personal exposure. Durham placed himself at the front of the movement, where his soldiers could see him sharing the same danger they faced. The wider battle ended badly for the Union garrison. Confederate forces overwhelmed the defensive situation at Winchester, and large numbers of Union soldiers were captured as Milroy's command attempted to withdraw. Survivors moved toward Harpers Ferry. The battle became one of the major Confederate successes during the opening stages of the Gettysburg Campaign. Durham survived his wound and continued his military service. His career did not end with the rank he held at Winchester. He later advanced to First Lieutenant, making that his highest securely verified substantive rank in the service record used for his final profile. The timing of Durham's service is historically notable for another reason. The state of West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, only six days after his Medal of Honor action at Winchester. Durham had entered the regiment while the political transformation of western Virginia was still underway, and his service therefore coincided directly with the creation of the new state whose name his regiment carried. Durham remained in Union service after recovering from his wound and continued through the Civil War. By the time the conflict ended in 1865, his military experience had taken him from civilian life in Clarksburg into one of the most important campaigns fought in the Shenandoah Valley. The decoration that ultimately recognized Durham's action was the Medal of Honor. Congress had authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862, during the Civil War. At that time the United States Army did not possess the later system of individual valor decorations that would eventually include awards such as the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star. The Medal of Honor therefore became the principal national decoration for extraordinary military conduct. Durham did not receive the Medal of Honor immediately after the battle. Like many Civil War veterans, his action was formally recognized only years later. Nearly twenty-seven years passed between the fighting at Winchester and the presentation of his award. On March 6, 1890, James Robinson Durham received the Medal of Honor for his conduct on June 14, 1863. The award specifically recognized his leadership in taking his command over the stone wall during the Winchester engagement, where he was wounded. For the VictoriaCross.ca database, his decoration is represented as Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1890. This historical designation reflects the Army Medal of Honor period applicable when the decoration was presented to him. No verified clasp, bar, star, oak leaf cluster, or other additional device is associated with his Medal of Honor, so the award is represented without any attachment. Durham's case also illustrates an important aspect of nineteenth-century Medal of Honor history. Recognition could come decades after the original battlefield action. Civil War service records, recommendations, official reviews, and surviving testimony continued to produce awards long after the fighting had ended. Durham's 1890 presentation formally preserved an act that had taken place during the opening stages of Lee's 1863 northern campaign. By the time he received the Medal of Honor, Durham had long since returned to civilian life. The surviving official records preserve considerably more information about his wartime service than about the details of his later professional career. Rather than attaching uncertain occupations or events to his later years, his documented legacy remains strongest in his connection to Clarksburg, his service with the 12th West Virginia Infantry, and his Medal of Honor recognition. Durham eventually lived in Washington, D.C., where he spent the final period of his life. He died there on August 6, 1904, at the age of seventy-one. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where his grave places him among generations of American military personnel. His burial at Arlington provides a lasting physical connection to the military service that defined the most historically documented part of his life. James Robinson Durham's military legacy rests on a direct act of combat leadership. On June 14, 1863, while serving as a Second Lieutenant of Company E, 12th West Virginia Infantry, he led his command across a stone wall during the fighting at Winchester and was wounded in the advance. Nearly twenty-seven years later, the United States formally recognized that action with the Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1890. His story remains that of a Union officer who placed himself at the front of his men during one of the most dangerous moments of the Second Battle of Winchester and whose courage was ultimately preserved through the nation's highest military decoration.