Patrick H. White

Bringing a cannon to Vicksburg's defenses

Patrick H. White was born on 1 June 1832 in County Sligo, Ireland. He served as a captain with the Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Light Artillery during the American Civil War.

On 22 May 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi, White helped carry a cannon by hand to an opening in the enemy fortifications. The party fired the weapon through the embrasure. He received the Medal of Honor on 15 January 1895 for the action.

After the war, White worked for twenty years in the New York state comptroller’s office. In 1903 he returned to Vicksburg to help the park commissioner locate his battery’s former positions and camp. White died on 25 November 1915 in Albany, New York, and is buried in St. Agnes Cemetery there. His medals in the 1863 and 1904 designs are held by the New York State Museum in Albany.

Medal of Honor citation

Carried with others by hand a cannon up to and fired it through an embrasure of the enemy's works.