James Tallentine

He Spiked a Fortress Gun Under Deadly Fire

James Tallentine was born in England in 1840. Little reliable information survives about his early life, but by the American Civil War he had entered the United States Navy and was serving as a quarter gunner aboard USS Tacony. His naval service placed him in the dangerous coastal and river operations of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, where Union warships fought to control the waterways of North Carolina and weaken Confederate defenses.

USS Tacony was a double-ended side-wheel gunboat commissioned in February 1864. Later that month she was assigned to operations in the North Carolina sounds, an area where Union naval forces faced Confederate batteries, fortified positions, and the threat posed by the ironclad CSS Albemarle. As a quarter gunner, Tallentine served in a role directly connected with the ship's armament and the demanding work required to keep a warship effective in combat.

By the autumn of 1864, Union forces were moving against Plymouth, North Carolina. The town had strategic importance because of its position on the Roanoke River, and Confederate control of the area had complicated Union operations in the region. After the destruction of CSS Albemarle in late October, Federal naval forces moved quickly to regain control of Plymouth.

On October 31, 1864, Tallentine participated in the operation that would earn him the Medal of Honor. During the taking of Plymouth, a landing party from USS Tacony went ashore to neutralize a Confederate artillery position. Tallentine joined the sailors who advanced toward a loaded 9-inch gun while exposed to heavy enemy musket fire.

The mission required the sailors to reach the Confederate weapon and spike it, rendering it unusable. Approaching a loaded artillery piece under direct musketry demanded extraordinary steadiness. Tallentine remained composed and carried out his part in the operation despite the intense fire around the landing party. The gun was successfully disabled, removing a dangerous weapon from Confederate use during the capture of the town.

His conduct at Plymouth was officially recognized with the Medal of Honor. The citation emphasized the coolness he displayed while participating in the landing and spiking of the 9-inch gun under devastating enemy musket fire. Tallentine was still serving as a quarter gunner aboard USS Tacony when he performed the action for which he was decorated.

The Medal of Honor was presented on December 31, 1864. Tallentine therefore received the nation's highest military decoration for valor during his lifetime. This distinction is important because his death followed only a short time later. His award recognized the Plymouth action of October 31, rather than the battle in which he would ultimately lose his life.

By December 1864, USS Tacony had left the North Carolina sounds to join Rear Admiral David D. Porter's large naval force assembled against Fort Fisher. The Confederate stronghold guarded the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, one of the Confederacy's most important remaining ports for blockade-running traffic. A major Union assault in December failed to capture the fort, but Federal commanders soon prepared a second and much larger operation.

In January 1865, USS Tacony returned with Porter's fleet for the renewed attack. Union warships subjected Fort Fisher to an enormous bombardment while Army troops landed north of the defenses. The Navy also organized a large landing force of sailors and Marines for a direct assault against the fort's seaward defenses.

On January 15, 1865, more than two thousand sailors and Marines moved ashore as part of the naval attack. The sailors were expected to advance across exposed ground toward one of the strongest Confederate coastal fortifications in the South. Confederate defenders answered with artillery and musket fire as the naval column approached the fort.

Tallentine took part in this assault. Only weeks after receiving the Medal of Honor for his courage at Plymouth, he again left the relative protection of his ship and advanced against a fortified Confederate position. During the attack he reached the parapet of Fort Fisher before being killed in the fighting.

Tallentine died on January 15, 1865, at approximately twenty-five years of age. His death occurred during one of the most important amphibious operations of the Civil War. Although the naval assault suffered severe casualties and was driven back, Union Army troops eventually penetrated the landward defenses, and Fort Fisher fell that night. Its capture effectively closed Wilmington to blockade-running traffic and deprived the Confederacy of one of its last major connections to overseas supplies.

James Tallentine's surviving military record is defined by two extraordinary combat episodes separated by less than three months. At Plymouth, he advanced under intense musket fire and helped disable a loaded Confederate gun, an action that earned him the Medal of Honor. At Fort Fisher, he again went ashore with a naval assault force and continued forward until he reached the enemy defenses, where he was killed.

His Medal of Honor preserves the official recognition of the courage he displayed at Plymouth, while his death at Fort Fisher demonstrates that his willingness to face extreme danger did not end with the act for which he was decorated. Tallentine's story remains a striking example of the sailors who fought not only from the decks of Union warships but also on shore, carrying naval warfare directly into heavily defended Confederate positions.