John Galloway (Medal of Honor)

He rallied men under heavy fire and saved a threatened flank

John Galloway was born in Philadelphia in December 1842, the son of John and Mary Galloway. His father was a hatter who died while the children were young, leaving his mother to raise the family. John worked as a butcher before enlisting in 1861. His younger brother George also joined the Union Army and later received the Medal of Honor for a different action.

John served in Company H of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was slightly wounded in the right leg at Chancellorsville on 2 May 1863, but continued his military career and re-enlisted at the end of that year. On 1 January 1865 he became the regiment's commissary sergeant, responsible for duties connected with supplying the soldiers.

During the final pursuit of the Confederate Army in Virginia, the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry was surprised near Farmville on 7 April 1865. Its position deteriorated rapidly and the right of the regiment faced the greatest danger. Galloway moved forward through heavy fire to that threatened sector and rallied the men before the attack could become a disaster.

His official Medal of Honor citation credits him with helping prevent the regiment from being overwhelmed. It recognizes decisive leadership under fire by a soldier whose normal appointment involved commissary work (Congressional Medal of Honor Society, https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/john-galloway). The action occurred two days before Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Galloway subsequently attained first-lieutenant's rank, the highest rank recorded by the Society.

After the war he returned to Philadelphia and married Margaret Crowley in 1867. They raised a large family. He became a tavern keeper and later an art dealer, remaining in the city where he had grown up. His medal was issued on 30 October 1897, more than thirty years after Farmville.

The brothers remained close. George, who wrote regimental histories under the name G. Norton Galloway, died at John's home on Tasker Street in February 1904. John died on 23 May, only three months later. Both were buried in Philadelphia's Mount Moriah Cemetery. John lies in section 149, lot 48, near his brother and several of his children. Their adjacent graves preserve the histories of two members of one family who earned the same decoration in separate Union regiments.