Jerry C. Wall

He Took an Enemy Flag at Gettysburg

Jerry C. Wall was born on July 1, 1841, in Geneva, New York. When the American Civil War began, he entered Union service and became a private in Company B of the 126th New York Infantry. His military career eventually brought him to Gettysburg, where a single act during the climactic fighting of July 3, 1863, earned him the Medal of Honor.

The 126th New York Infantry was organized in 1862 and soon experienced the harsh realities of Civil War service. By the summer of 1863, Wall and his regiment were serving with the Union Army of the Potomac as Confederate General Robert E. Lee carried the Army of Northern Virginia north into Pennsylvania.

The armies converged around Gettysburg at the beginning of July. What followed became the largest and one of the most consequential battles of the Civil War. After two days of severe fighting, the armies remained locked in position, with Union forces holding a defensive line along the high ground south of town.

On July 3, the battle reached its decisive phase. Confederate forces launched a massive assault against the center of the Union position on Cemetery Ridge. The advance placed Union infantry under tremendous pressure as Confederate formations crossed open ground toward the Federal defenses.

Private Jerry C. Wall was serving with Company B of the 126th New York Infantry during this fighting.

As the Confederate attack broke against the Union line, the fighting became extremely close. Regimental flags remained important rallying points for soldiers attempting to maintain formation amid smoke, gunfire, artillery explosions, and confusion. Because the colors identified and guided a regiment, they were defended fiercely and often stood at the center of some of the most dangerous combat on the battlefield.

During the engagement, Wall captured an enemy battle flag.

His surviving Medal of Honor citation is remarkably brief, recording the essential achievement simply as the capture of a flag. The specific Confederate regiment whose colors he seized has not been sufficiently verified and should not be assumed. What is certain is that Wall captured enemy colors during the July 3 fighting at Gettysburg, an accomplishment that required him to enter the immediate struggle surrounding a Confederate color guard.

Wall was not an officer commanding troops from behind the line. He was a private, fighting directly among the enlisted soldiers of the 126th New York. His Medal of Honor action therefore reflected personal courage at the most immediate level of infantry combat.

The 126th New York played an important role in the defense of the Union position as the Confederate assault was repulsed. Members of the regiment helped capture prisoners and several stands of Confederate colors during the chaotic collapse of the attack. Wall's individual capture became one of the actions singled out for national recognition.

The Confederate assault on July 3 ultimately failed. Lee's army had been unable to break the Union center, and the following day Confederate forces began withdrawing from Gettysburg. The Union victory ended Lee's second invasion of the North and became one of the major turning points of the war.

Wall's courage at Gettysburg was formally recognized the following year. His Medal of Honor was presented on December 6, 1864. The decoration honored the flag capture he had accomplished as a Private on July 3, 1863.

The Medal of Honor was still a relatively new decoration during the Civil War. Established in the early years of the conflict, it became the United States' highest military award for valor. For Wall, it preserved official recognition of a battlefield act performed during the most famous engagement of the war.

He remained associated with the rank of Private in the verified record, and no higher military rank has been established for his profile. This makes the nature of his achievement especially clear: his place in Medal of Honor history came not through senior command but through an individual act of courage in close combat.

Wall's Civil War service also falls within the period later commemorated by the Army Civil War Campaign Medal. Established by the War Department in 1907, the decoration recognized qualifying United States Army service during the Civil War. Wall had served during that qualifying period and was still living when the medal was created. No clasp or additional device has been verified for his profile.

The Civil War Campaign Medal represented a different kind of recognition from the Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor commemorated Wall's specific act of valor at Gettysburg, while the campaign medal recognized his broader service as a Union soldier during the Civil War. Together, the two decorations reflect both the extraordinary moment for which he became famous and the larger military service of which that moment was a part.

Wall lived for many decades after the war. By the early twentieth century, Gettysburg had become one of the most remembered battlefields in American history, and the surviving veterans of the conflict increasingly became the focus of national commemorations and reunions.

Jerry C. Wall died on July 28, 1930, in Dansville, New York. He was buried in Greenmount Cemetery in Dansville.

His military legacy remains centered on July 3, 1863. During the final and decisive day at Gettysburg, a private from the 126th New York Infantry entered the close fighting and captured an enemy battle flag. More than a year later, the Medal of Honor permanently recorded that act of courage, preserving Wall's place among the soldiers whose individual actions helped shape the outcome of one of the Civil War's defining battles.