Orlando Phidelio Boss

He Crawled Through Gunfire to Save a Dying Officer

Orlando Phidelio Boss was born on July 30, 1844, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He became a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for an extraordinary rescue performed during the American Civil War. His defining act of courage occurred at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, on June 3, 1864, when he risked his life under intense Confederate fire to bring a mortally wounded Union officer back to safety.

Boss grew up in Fitchburg during a period of increasing national division over slavery and the future of the Union. When the Civil War began in April 1861, he was only sixteen years old. In September of that year, shortly after his seventeenth birthday, he entered military service from his hometown and joined Company F of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

The 25th Massachusetts was organized for three years of service and became part of the Union Army's military operations in the eastern theater. The regiment initially served in North Carolina, where Union forces sought to capture and maintain important coastal positions. Its later assignments brought it into Virginia, where the fighting intensified during the campaigns of 1864.

By June 1864, Boss was serving as a corporal. His regiment had joined Union operations against Confederate forces defending the approaches to Richmond, Virginia. The Battle of Cold Harbor developed into one of the most costly engagements of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign, with Union troops attacking strongly defended Confederate positions.

On June 3, Union forces launched a major assault against the Confederate lines. The fighting was particularly destructive as infantrymen advanced into concentrated rifle and artillery fire. Numerous soldiers were killed or wounded, and men who fell between the opposing positions often remained exposed to continued enemy fire.

During the battle, Boss was positioned in a forward rifle pit with Privates Aldrich and Battles of Company F. Their position lay between the Union breastworks and the Confederate defenses. Enemy fire made movement across the exposed ground extremely dangerous, and several soldiers had already been struck while attempting to return to the Union lines.

Amid the fighting, the men heard the cries of a wounded officer. They discovered Lieutenant W. F. Daley of Company E, 25th Massachusetts Infantry, lying severely wounded in an exposed position near the Union breastworks. The lieutenant was directly within the enemy's field of fire, making any attempt to reach him exceptionally hazardous.

Boss first attempted to assist the wounded officer by crawling toward him and providing his canteen. Another soldier, Private Aldrich, had also been wounded. Boss carried Aldrich on his shoulders and made his way back through the enemy fire to the protection of the Union breastworks.

Despite already having exposed himself to serious danger, Boss participated in a further effort to rescue Lieutenant Daley. Privates W. D. Blanchard, A. F. Bartlett, and W. O. Wilder assisted in preparing the rescue. While two of the men worked from behind the breastworks, Boss and Blanchard crawled forward toward the wounded lieutenant.

Confederate soldiers observed their movements and directed fire toward them. To protect themselves, the rescuers remained close to the ground and began digging a shallow trench. They eventually reached Daley, placed him on a blanket, and carefully dragged him toward the Union position.

At the breastworks, the soldiers continued working to create a passage through the defensive earthworks while their comrades dug toward them from the opposite side. Their efforts eventually met, allowing the wounded lieutenant to be brought into the Union lines without requiring him to be lifted over the exposed barrier.

The rescue succeeded in removing Daley from the battlefield, although his wounds proved fatal. He subsequently died in a hospital. Boss's participation in the dangerous operation became the defining act of his military career.

The official recognition of Boss's bravery specifically emphasized his rescue of a mortally wounded lieutenant who had been lying between the opposing battle lines under heavy enemy fire. His actions demonstrated extraordinary personal courage during an engagement in which even a brief movement beyond the breastworks could expose a soldier to deadly fire.

Boss continued his military service after the Battle of Cold Harbor. The 25th Massachusetts remained involved in operations in Virginia during the following months, including the fighting around Petersburg. Boss completed his original three-year period of service and was mustered out in October 1864, before the final collapse of Confederate resistance in April 1865.

Although his act of bravery occurred in 1864, official recognition came nearly twenty-four years later. On May 10, 1888, Orlando Phidelio Boss was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conduct at Cold Harbor. The decoration formally recognized the exceptional danger he had faced while rescuing his wounded lieutenant under enemy fire.

The award also preserved the memory of a rescue that involved several soldiers working together under extremely hazardous conditions. While the Medal of Honor specifically honored Boss's courage, the surviving historical account describes the assistance of his fellow infantrymen in bringing the wounded officer back through the Union defenses.

Boss lived for many decades after the Civil War, witnessing the transformation of the United States from a nation recovering from internal conflict into a modern industrial power. His Medal of Honor connected his later life to the events of June 3, 1864, and to the wartime history of the 25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

Orlando Phidelio Boss died on December 28, 1931, at the age of eighty-seven. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the city where he had been born and from which he had entered military service seventy years earlier.

His Medal of Honor is preserved in the collection of the Fitchburg Historical Society, maintaining a tangible connection between his hometown and his wartime service.

Boss's legacy is defined by the events at Cold Harbor, where he placed himself in direct danger to assist wounded comrades and help rescue a dying officer. His story remains a documented example of individual courage and cooperation under fire, and his Medal of Honor ensures that his actions during one of the Civil War's most devastating battles continue to be remembered.