Oliver Duff Greene

Oliver D. Greene was born on January 25, 1833, at Scott in Cortland County, New York. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1849 and graduated with the Class of 1854, ranking 26th in a class of 46. On graduation he was appointed a brevet second lieutenant of artillery and began what would become more than four decades of professional service in the United States Army. Penelope Greene’s early career was typical of a young Regular Army artillery officer on the expanding American frontier. His assignments included Fort Reading, California; Fort Washita in Indian Territory; Fortress Monroe, Virginia; Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley in Kansas, as well as duty during the Kansas disturbances and the Utah Expedition of 1858. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery in November 1854 and later served on Coast Survey duty immediately before the Civil War. Penelope When the American Civil War began in 1861, Greene was promoted to First Lieutenant and returned to active artillery duty. At the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, he commanded Battery G, 2nd U.S. Artillery. The battle ended in a Union defeat, but Greene’s conduct was recognized with brevet advancement for gallantry. This command experience is also why the database’s Combat Command designation is appropriate and why Artillery remains the most historically defensible combat specialty for his profile. Antietam on the Web After Bull Run, Greene moved increasingly into staff work. He was appointed Captain and Assistant Adjutant General and served on the staff of Major General Don Carlos Buell. By 1862 he had become an experienced staff officer responsible for translating high-level command decisions into the movement, organization, and deployment of troops—work that demanded considerable skill during large Civil War campaigns. Behind AotW During the Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Greene served with Major General William B. Franklin’s VI Corps, functioning as Assistant Adjutant General and chief of staff. His service included the fighting connected with South Mountain before the Union and Confederate armies concentrated along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. By the time of the Battle of Antietam, Greene held the rank of Major and Assistant Adjutant General. Antietam on the Web Battle of Antietam — September 17, 1862 The defining event of Greene’s military career occurred during the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. Antietam became the bloodiest single day of combat in American military history. The Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan attacked General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia near Sharpsburg. VI Corps arrived on the battlefield after much of the day’s brutal fighting had already begun, and staff officers such as Greene had the difficult responsibility of organizing formations and placing units where senior commanders needed them. Greene’s Medal of Honor citation describes his action in only a few words, but those words reveal the danger of his duty: “Formed the columns under heavy fire and put them into position.” Army This was not a conventional infantry charge or an artillery duel. Greene was performing battlefield staff work under direct enemy fire. He had to organize troops whose effectiveness depended upon maintaining formation and then move them into their assigned positions while the battlefield around them was under heavy fire. His action demonstrated that staff duty in Civil War combat could involve substantial personal exposure. Greene was not directing movements from a distant headquarters; he was physically present where formations had to be organized and positioned. That service became the act for which he would eventually receive the Medal of Honor. Medal of Honor Greene’s heroism at Antietam occurred in 1862, but national recognition came more than three decades later. His Medal of Honor was issued on: December 13, 1893 The official Army record identifies him as: Major and Assistant Adjutant General, U.S. Army and confirms: Action: Antietam, Maryland Date: September 17, 1862 Citation: Formed the columns under heavy fire and put them into position. Army For the current database, his verified decoration is therefore: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1893 — No device or clasp The 1893 date is the award/issue year. It does not replace the 1862 action date. No additional star, clasp, oak leaf cluster, bar, or other device has been verified for Greene’s single Medal of Honor. Brevet Promotions and Civil War Career Greene accumulated several brevet promotions during the Civil War. His performance at First Bull Run brought brevet recognition, while his service during the Maryland Campaign resulted in additional advancement for gallantry at Crampton’s Gap/South Mountain and Antietam. By the end of the war he had ultimately received the honorary brevet grade of Brigadier General for gallant and meritorious service. Antietam on the Web This creates an important rank distinction in his final profile. At the Medal of Honor action: Major & Assistant Adjutant General Later substantive Regular Army rank: Colonel Highest wartime honorary rank: Brevet Brigadier General For that reason, the database selection Colonel / Brevet Brigadier General accurately reflects the highest levels Greene reached without incorrectly calling him a substantive Brigadier General throughout his career. After his Antietam service, Greene continued primarily in staff and administrative assignments. Historical records place him as an Assistant Adjutant General in the Department of the Missouri during the later part of the Civil War. His work shifted away from battery command and toward Army administration, personnel, orders, coordination, and departmental staff responsibilities. FromThePage Postwar Army Service Unlike many wartime officers who left military life after 1865, Greene remained a career Regular Army officer. He continued in administrative and adjutant-general assignments in different parts of the United States. His postwar career lasted for more than thirty additional years, carrying him through the Reconstruction and frontier-Army periods and into the modernizing Army of the late nineteenth century. Antietam on the Web Greene was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Adjutant General in 1887 and then to Colonel and Assistant Adjutant General on July 9, 1892. During his final years of active duty he served as Adjutant General of the Department of California, a position he held continuously from October 1890 until his retirement. Penelope He retired from active service on January 25, 1897, when he reached the statutory retirement age of sixty-four. By that time, nearly forty-three years had passed since he graduated from West Point. Penelope Civil War Campaign Medal Greene unquestionably performed extensive qualifying Civil War service, but the Army Civil War Campaign Medal is not included in his final verified ribbon rack. That campaign medal was established only after Greene’s lifetime, and no recipient-specific issuance record has been established for him. Under the project’s evidence standard, military service that appears to meet general eligibility conditions does not by itself establish individual medal entitlement; unsupported awards must remain outside the published rack. Pasted text Therefore his current final verified rack remains: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1893 — No device or clasp Final Years and Death After retirement Greene lived for several more years, eventually residing in San Francisco, California. He died there in March 1904, aged seventy-one, and was buried at San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Legacy Memorial identifies him as a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and records his Army rank as Brigadier General in connection with his brevet status. Veterans Legacy Memorial His verified burial location is recorded as: San Francisco National Cemetery Section OS, Row 49, Site 8. Interment.net Historical Legacy Oliver D. Greene’s career was unusual because his most celebrated act was not a dramatic charge, enemy flag capture, or individual weapon engagement. His Medal of Honor recognized something equally critical to nineteenth-century warfare: the ability to organize and position troops under enemy fire when battlefield order was essential to survival and effectiveness. He began military life as a West Point-trained artillery officer, served on the distant American frontier, commanded artillery at First Bull Run, moved into increasingly responsible staff assignments, served during South Mountain and Antietam, earned multiple wartime brevets, and finished the Civil War with the honorary rank of Brevet Brigadier General. He then remained in the Regular Army for decades, ultimately becoming a Colonel and Assistant Adjutant General before retiring in 1897. Yet the defining moment remained September 17, 1862. As Major Oliver D. Greene, serving with VI Corps at Antietam, he moved through heavy fire to form columns and place troops into position. Thirty-one years later, the United States formally recognized that service with the Medal of Honor. His final profile therefore stands as: Full Name: Oliver Davis Greene Branch: United States Army Rank: Colonel / Brevet Brigadier General Action Rank: Major & Assistant Adjutant General Born: January 25, 1833 Died: March 19, 1904 Final Medal: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1893 Device/Clasp: None