John Brosnan

He Lost an Arm Saving a Wounded Comrade

John Brosnan was born on July 1, 1846, in Ireland. He later came to the United States and entered Union service during the American Civil War, joining Company E of the 164th New York Infantry. By the summer of 1864, he had risen to the rank of Sergeant and was serving in the brutal operations around Petersburg, Virginia.

The campaign against Petersburg became one of the longest and most punishing phases of the war. Union forces repeatedly attacked Confederate positions protecting the city and the rail lines that supplied Richmond. The fighting was often close, confused, and extremely costly, with infantry units suffering heavy casualties as they tried to break through fortified defensive lines.

On June 17, 1864, Brosnan and the 164th New York Infantry were engaged near Petersburg during one of these attacks.

During the fighting, Corporal Michael Carroll of his company was wounded and left exposed in front of the Union position. Reaching him meant moving into an area swept by enemy fire, where any soldier attempting a rescue risked becoming a casualty as well.

Brosnan went forward.

He left the relative protection of his own line and moved toward the wounded man under hostile fire. His purpose was to bring Carroll back to safety.

While carrying out the rescue, Brosnan was himself struck in the left arm.

The wound was severe, but the danger did not erase the significance of what he had attempted. He had deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire in order to save a fellow soldier who could not safely withdraw on his own.

The injury proved serious enough that Brosnan’s arm had to be amputated.

His actions at Petersburg became the defining episode of his military service. The courage involved was not based on capturing a flag, leading an assault, or destroying an enemy position. It came from choosing to move toward a wounded comrade while knowing that the ground between them was under fire.

The fighting around Petersburg continued long after Brosnan was wounded. Union and Confederate forces remained locked in operations around the city for months, gradually turning the campaign into a prolonged siege. Petersburg would not fall until April 1865, shortly before the collapse of the Confederacy.

Brosnan, however, had already paid a permanent physical price for his service.

His wound eventually led to his medical discharge from the Army on February 7, 1865. He left military service having reached the rank of Sergeant, the highest verified rank of his career.

His rank is important because surviving accounts note that Brosnan assumed significant responsibility during the fighting as officers became casualties. Even so, he was not formally promoted to an officer’s grade. His verified military rank remained Sergeant.

For his gallantry at Petersburg on June 17, 1864, John Brosnan was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The decoration was presented to him on January 18, 1894, almost thirty years after the action.

The long delay between the battle and the award was not unusual for Civil War recipients. Many acts of courage were reviewed and recognized years later as records were examined and recommendations were processed. Brosnan’s rescue attempt remained sufficiently important to receive the nation’s highest military decoration decades after the war had ended.

The Medal of Honor formally recognized the choice he had made under fire: to risk his own life in an effort to save another soldier.

Brosnan’s story also reveals the personal cost behind Civil War valor. His act of courage did not end with a dramatic return to the lines and an immediate celebration. It ended with a devastating wound and the loss of an arm.

Yet he survived.

After leaving the Army, Brosnan lived for many decades. Like thousands of disabled Civil War veterans, he carried the physical consequences of his wartime service into civilian life long after the fighting had ended.

By the time his Medal of Honor was presented in 1894, the Civil War had passed into history for a new generation, but many veterans were still alive to remember the battles, losses, and individual acts of bravery that had defined the conflict.

Brosnan’s recognition preserved one of those moments.

He was not decorated for an abstract record of service. His Medal of Honor was tied to a specific decision made on a dangerous battlefield outside Petersburg: a wounded comrade was lying exposed, and Brosnan went out to bring him back.

John Brosnan died on August 7, 1921, in Brooklyn, New York. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn.

His legacy remains closely connected to June 17, 1864. During the fighting at Petersburg, Sergeant Brosnan moved into enemy fire to rescue a wounded fellow soldier and was grievously wounded in the attempt.

He lost an arm, but his courage was not forgotten.

Nearly thirty years later, the Medal of Honor ensured that the Army’s recognition of his selfless action would remain part of the permanent record of American military history.