John E. Clopp

He Tore an Enemy Flag From the Color Bearer

John E. Clopp was born in 1845 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the American Civil War began, he entered Union service and became a private in Company F of the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry. The regiment would eventually fight in some of the most important campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, including the Battle of Gettysburg.

On July 3, 1863, during the final day of fighting at Gettysburg, Clopp took part in the desperate struggle that followed the Confederate assault against the Union center. In the confusion and violence of the battlefield, regimental colors remained crucial rallying points. They identified units, guided soldiers through smoke and disorder, and carried enormous symbolic importance. Because of this, color bearers and the soldiers around them were often exposed to some of the heaviest fighting.

During the battle, Private Clopp encountered the colors of the 9th Virginia Infantry. In close combat, he seized the Confederate flag directly from its color bearer and carried it away. Capturing an enemy battle flag was one of the most dangerous individual achievements possible on a Civil War battlefield, requiring a soldier to reach the center of an opposing formation and overcome the men defending its colors.

Clopp's action at Gettysburg became the defining moment of his military service. His capture of the 9th Virginia Infantry's flag was later formally recognized by the United States government.

Clopp continued serving after Gettysburg. In June 1864, he was transferred from the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry to Company B of the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry, continuing his Union Army service as the war moved into its final campaigns.

On February 2, 1865, nearly nineteen months after Gettysburg, John E. Clopp received the Medal of Honor. The decoration recognized his extraordinary action on July 3, 1863, when he captured the enemy flag directly from the Confederate color bearer during one of the most famous battles of the American Civil War.

Clopp survived the war, but his life after military service was brief. He died in Philadelphia on April 6, 1866, only a year after the conflict ended. He was buried at Lawnview Cemetery in Rockledge, Pennsylvania.

John E. Clopp's legacy rests on a single violent moment at Gettysburg. As a private in the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry, he closed with the enemy, seized the colors of the 9th Virginia Infantry from its bearer, and carried them from the field. That act of courage earned him the Medal of Honor and secured his place among the soldiers recognized for extraordinary valor during the Civil War.