Llewellyn Powell Norton

Charged a gun crew, took the cannon and two prisoners!

On April 6, 1865, as Confederate forces retreated through Virginia, Sergeant Llewellyn Powell Norton of the 10th New York Cavalry charged an enemy artillery position at Sailor's Creek. With the assistance of Corporal Andrew Bringle, he captured a Confederate fieldpiece and two prisoners. The action earned him the Medal of Honor and became the defining achievement of a military career that began nearly three years earlier.

Llewellyn Powell Norton was born on May 11, 1837, in Scott, Cortland County, New York. He was the son of Edwin Norton and Mary Rice Norton, whose family maintained a farm along West Scott Road. His upbringing was closely connected with the agricultural communities around Scott and Homer.

Norton attended Cortland Academy in Homer, where he received an education that later enabled him to work as a schoolteacher. Before entering military service, he divided his time between farming and teaching, working in the fields during the warmer months and teaching during the winter.

On April 1860, Norton married Catherine Goff, whose family lived in the Otisco area of New York. Their son, Edwin Franklin Norton, was born on February 15, 1861. The family suffered a succession of losses when Catherine died on November 29, 1861, and Norton's father died on April 7, 1862.

In September 1862, Norton enlisted in the Union Army. He entered service at Cortland, New York, on September 15, joining the 10th New York Volunteer Cavalry. Local historical research records that he helped recruit additional volunteers from the communities of Homer, Scott, and Preble before joining his regiment.

Norton was mustered into Company L as a Sergeant on October 29, 1862. His company subsequently joined the regiment in Virginia, where the 10th New York Cavalry was serving with the Union Army during the campaigns of the American Civil War.

The regiment conducted mounted operations in Virginia and participated in campaigns associated with the Army of the Potomac. Its recorded service included reconnaissance, screening movements, and combat against Confederate cavalry and infantry forces. Norton's surviving individual military record confirms his continued service with Company L, although it does not establish his personal participation in every engagement listed in the regiment's history.

By the spring of 1865, Norton remained in Union military service as Federal forces advanced against General Robert E. Lee's retreating Army of Northern Virginia. The campaign followed the collapse of the Confederate defenses at Petersburg and Richmond, forcing Lee's army westward through Virginia.

On April 6, 1865, Union cavalry and infantry confronted retreating Confederate forces in the series of engagements known as the Battle of Sailor's Creek. The battle took place around Deatonsville, Virginia, as Union troops attempted to intercept Confederate units and prevent their escape.

During the fighting, Norton's cavalry formation encountered Confederate artillery defending a position along the line of retreat. Rather than allowing the gun and its crew to remain in Confederate hands, Norton advanced against the position.

A regional historical account describes Norton riding over a Confederate embankment during the charge. His officially documented achievement was the capture of a Confederate fieldpiece and two prisoners with the assistance of Corporal Andrew Bringle, who served in Company F of the same regiment.

The two soldiers worked together during the encounter. Accounts of the action describe Bringle taking the captured prisoners toward the Union rear while Norton remained with the artillery piece to secure it until it could be removed from the battlefield.

Their conduct was recognized in the Medal of Honor citations issued for both men. Norton's citation specifically identified him as the Sergeant who charged the enemy and, with Bringle's assistance, captured the fieldpiece and prisoners.

The Battle of Sailor's Creek took place only three days before General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Norton's action therefore occurred during the closing phase of the war in Virginia.

The New York State Adjutant General's regimental roster records Norton's appointment as Sergeant Major on April 6, 1865, the same date as his Medal of Honor action. His official award citation identifies him as a Sergeant, while his highest verified enlisted rank was Sergeant Major.

Norton remained in the Army until June 26, 1865, when he was mustered out at Cloud's Mills, Virginia. His service had extended from September 1862 through the final Union operations of the Civil War.

On July 3, 1865, the United States Army officially awarded Norton the Medal of Honor for his actions at Sailor's Creek. Corporal Andrew Bringle received the same decoration for his contribution to the capture.

Although the official award records carry the 1865 date, a later historical account reports that Norton did not physically receive his medal until May 1888. According to that account, the War Department had been unable to locate him after his discharge. Norton eventually discovered that his Medal of Honor had been recorded in a published reference work and made inquiries that resulted in the decoration reaching him.

After leaving military service, Norton returned to civilian life in New York. He lived in Homer, where he worked in the insurance business and maintained his connection with the local community.

He was also associated with the Grand Army of the Republic, the organization of Union veterans that preserved the experiences and service of men who had fought in the Civil War.

In his later years, Norton recorded memories of his childhood and wartime experiences in a series of articles for the Homer Republican newspaper. These recollections preserved details of his family's early settlement in Cortland County, his upbringing, and his life before and during the war.

Llewellyn Powell Norton died on February 16, 1914, in Homer, New York, at the age of seventy-six. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Preble, New York.

His military record establishes his service as a Sergeant and later Sergeant Major in the 10th New York Cavalry, while his Medal of Honor recognizes a specific act of bravery during one of the Civil War's final major battles. The capture of a Confederate fieldpiece and two prisoners at Sailor's Creek remains the central documented achievement for which Llewellyn Powell Norton is remembered.