John Edward Anglin

At Fourteen, He Faced the Guns of Fort Fisher

John Edward Anglin was born on October 6, 1850, in Portland, Maine. He entered the United States Navy while still extraordinarily young and served during the closing stages of the American Civil War. By the winter of 1864–1865, when he was only fourteen years old, Anglin was serving as a Cabin Boy aboard USS Pontoosuc, a Union Navy gunboat engaged in operations against the heavily defended approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Wilmington was one of the Confederacy’s most important remaining ports. Protected by powerful coastal fortifications, it served as a crucial entry point for blockade runners carrying supplies through the Union naval blockade. Fort Fisher guarded the approaches to the Cape Fear River and represented the principal obstacle preventing Union forces from closing the port completely.

USS Pontoosuc joined the large naval force assembled for operations against Fort Fisher. The campaign placed sailors aboard Union warships under the fire of Confederate coastal guns while they maintained bombardments intended to weaken the defenses and support troops operating ashore.

Anglin’s official Medal of Honor service was connected with the operations against Fort Fisher and Wilmington between December 24, 1864, and January 22, 1865.

Despite holding the humble rating of Cabin Boy, Anglin served aboard a fighting warship during sustained combat operations. Cabin boys were among the youngest members of naval crews and were normally assigned supporting duties aboard ship. During battle, however, every member of a warship’s crew could be exposed to the same artillery fire, flying fragments, smoke, and confusion that threatened experienced sailors.

Pontoosuc participated in the Union bombardments while Confederate batteries returned fire from shore. Throughout these operations, Anglin remained at his duties as the ship engaged the enemy.

His conduct attracted official recognition for gallantry, skill, and coolness under fire. These qualities were particularly remarkable given his age. While veteran sailors worked the guns and maneuvered the vessel during the bombardments, the fourteen-year-old Cabin Boy continued performing his assigned responsibilities amid active combat.

The first major Union attempt against Fort Fisher in December 1864 failed to capture the position. Union naval forces had subjected the fort to heavy bombardment, but the accompanying ground operation was unsuccessful and the attacking troops withdrew.

The Union returned in January 1865 with a renewed naval and military assault.

Once again, Pontoosuc took part in the operations. Union warships bombarded Fort Fisher while troops prepared to attack the defenses from land. The fighting was intense, and the combined operation finally succeeded in capturing the fort on January 15, 1865.

The fall of Fort Fisher was strategically significant. Without the fort protecting the approaches to the Cape Fear River, Wilmington could no longer function effectively as a Confederate blockade-running port. Union forces subsequently advanced against Wilmington, which fell the following month.

Anglin had therefore served through one of the most important naval campaigns of the final months of the Civil War.

His courage during these operations was formally recognized with the Medal of Honor. The Navy recorded his award on June 22, 1865. He was honored for his conduct aboard USS Pontoosuc during the Fort Fisher and Wilmington operations, where he had demonstrated gallantry and composure while the ship was engaged against enemy defenses.

At the time of the actions for which he was recognized, Anglin’s rank was Cabin Boy. Later records identify his highest rating as Cabin Boy First Class. His Medal of Honor achievement, however, belongs specifically to his service as a young Cabin Boy aboard Pontoosuc.

Anglin’s age makes his story particularly striking. Born in October 1850, he was only fourteen during the fighting off Fort Fisher. Yet the official record does not remember him merely because he was young. It recognizes the way he performed his duties during dangerous combat operations while his ship was under enemy fire.

The Medal of Honor was the only decoration verified for his profile. Awarded during the Civil War era, it preserved official recognition of his service aboard Pontoosuc and his conduct during the operations that helped close one of the Confederacy’s last major ports.

After the war, Anglin returned to civilian life. The surviving historical record provides far less detail about the decades that followed than it does about his wartime service. His name also appears in some official Medal of Honor records under the spelling “John Angling,” but historical records from Maine identify him as John Edward Anglin.

He remained associated with his native Maine and eventually returned to Portland, the city where his life had begun.

John Edward Anglin died on September 6, 1905, in Portland, Maine. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in South Portland.

His military legacy is tied to the winter of 1864–1865, when a fourteen-year-old Cabin Boy served aboard USS Pontoosuc while Union warships fought against the defenses of Fort Fisher and Wilmington. Surrounded by the dangers of naval combat, he carried out his duties with the gallantry and coolness that brought him the Medal of Honor.

The larger campaign helped close Wilmington to Confederate blockade runners and contributed to the final collapse of the Confederacy’s ability to sustain overseas supply routes. Within that major strategic operation, John Edward Anglin’s story remains intensely personal: a teenage sailor, serving aboard a warship under fire, who performed his duty with courage far beyond what his age might have suggested.