John Darling Terry

He Lost a Leg at Sixteen and Returned to Battle

John Darling Terry was born on September 3, 1845, in Maine. His military story began with an extraordinary determination to serve while he was still a teenager. In May 1861, only weeks after the American Civil War began, the fifteen-year-old Terry traveled to Boston and enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. His first period of service was brief because his father informed military authorities that he was underage, and Terry was discharged in July.

He was not deterred. On September 5, 1861, just two days after his sixteenth birthday, Terry enlisted again, this time joining Company E of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry. Within months he was serving as a sergeant and preparing for combat operations along the North Carolina coast.

Early in 1862, the 23rd Massachusetts took part in the Burnside Expedition against Confederate positions in North Carolina. Terry participated in operations around Roanoke Island before the regiment moved against New Bern. The campaign exposed the young soldier to amphibious operations, difficult marches, and increasingly intense combat.

On March 14, 1862, at the Battle of New Bern, Terry faced the moment that would define his military career. Confederate artillery positioned near Fort Thompson was causing serious damage to the advancing Union troops. During the fighting, members of the 23rd Massachusetts moved against one of the enemy guns.

Terry advanced in the thick of the battle. As the Union soldiers approached the Confederate artillery position, a shot struck him in the lower left leg with devastating force. The wound was so severe that his leg ultimately had to be amputated below the knee.

Even after being struck down, Terry continued encouraging the men around him rather than withdrawing his attention from the fight. His official Medal of Honor citation later emphasized this conduct: although he had lost his leg to enemy fire in the fiercest part of the engagement, he continued urging his fellow soldiers forward until he was finally carried from the battlefield.

For many soldiers, such a wound would have permanently ended military service. Terry chose a different path. After recovering and adapting to an artificial leg, he sought to return to active duty rather than accept a position away from field service.

In 1863, Terry received a commission as a first lieutenant in the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers. The regiment was composed largely of formerly enslaved Black men from North Carolina and surrounding areas and was later redesignated the 35th United States Colored Troops. Terry returned south to serve with the regiment despite the loss of his leg.

His determination was tested again in February 1864 at the Battle of Olustee in Florida. The 35th U.S. Colored Troops fought alongside other Union units in a costly engagement against Confederate forces. During the battle, a Confederate bullet struck Terry's artificial leg. The shot damaged the wooden prosthesis rather than wounding him again, and he remained with his command.

Terry continued in military service through the closing stages of the Civil War. On May 23, 1865, he accepted promotion to captain. Several months later, however, the Army withdrew the promotion, reasoning that his physical disability prevented him from fulfilling the expected duties of a company commander on foot. Terry challenged that decision and sought restoration of the rank he believed he had earned through his service.

He remained in the Army during the early Reconstruction period and served on duty connected with the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina. He received a brevet promotion to captain in February 1866 and was mustered out of volunteer service in June of that year. In 1867 the Army officially recognized him with the brevet rank of major for his wartime service, making major the highest rank associated with his military career.

That same year brought another major recognition. On October 12, 1867, John Darling Terry was presented with the Medal of Honor for his actions at New Bern more than five years earlier. The decoration commemorated the courage of a sixteen-year-old sergeant who had been grievously wounded in battle yet continued encouraging his men until he could no longer remain on the field.

After leaving military service, Terry began a long civilian career at the Customs House in New York City. He worked there for approximately fifty years, including service as a deputy collector in the audit department and as a clerk. Yet the dispute surrounding his captaincy remained unresolved during his lifetime.

Terry died on March 4, 1919, at the age of seventy-three. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

His story, however, did not end with his death. Nearly a century later, descendants researching his military record located extensive documentation in the National Archives supporting his claim that his promotion to captain had been valid and that the later withdrawal of that rank had been unjust. The evidence was eventually presented to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.

In 2013, the Board ruled in Terry's favor. The Army determined that the evidence justified correcting his military record and restoring his permanent rank of captain. The decision formally resolved a dispute Terry himself had pursued during and after his service nearly 150 years earlier.

John Darling Terry's career was remarkable for far more than a single moment of battlefield courage. He entered the Army while still a teenager, lost a leg at sixteen, returned to active field service with an artificial limb, served with African American troops during the Civil War, reached the brevet rank of major, and spent decades seeking recognition of the captaincy eventually restored to his record.

At the center of that long story remained the Battle of New Bern. Severely wounded in the thick of the fighting, Terry continued encouraging the soldiers around him until he was carried from the field. That action earned him the Medal of Honor and became the enduring symbol of a military life defined by persistence in the face of extraordinary physical hardship.