Richard D. Dunphy

He Lost Both Arms but Survived Mobile Bay

Richard D. Dunphy was born on December 12, 1841, in Ireland. He later entered the United States Navy and served during the American Civil War aboard USS Hartford, the flagship of Rear Admiral David G. Farragut.

By the summer of 1864, Mobile Bay in Alabama remained one of the Confederacy's most important fortified harbors. On August 5, Farragut led a powerful Union fleet into the bay, where Confederate forts, gunboats, underwater mines, and the ironclad CSS Tennessee defended the approaches.

Dunphy served aboard Hartford as a coal heaver. During the battle, the flagship came under severe enemy fire while pressing through the Confederate defenses. Dunphy remained at his duties as the fighting intensified around the ship.

During the engagement, Dunphy was catastrophically wounded and lost both arms. Despite the severity of his injuries, he survived. His sacrifice became one of the most striking personal stories to emerge from the Battle of Mobile Bay.

The Union fleet ultimately broke through the defenses, defeated the Confederate naval resistance, and secured control of Mobile Bay. Farragut's victory became one of the most important Union naval successes of the Civil War.

Dunphy's bravery was not immediately processed for recognition. In February 1866, Farragut wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles recommending him for the Medal of Honor, explaining that Dunphy had apparently been omitted earlier while his survival from such severe wounds remained uncertain.

His conduct at Mobile Bay was subsequently recognized with the Medal of Honor for courage and devotion to duty aboard USS Hartford during the battle of August 5, 1864.

Dunphy lived for four decades after the war despite the permanent injuries he had suffered in battle. His survival and later life reflected the extraordinary physical consequences carried by many veterans long after the fighting ended.

Richard D. Dunphy died on November 23, 1904, in San Francisco, California, and was buried at St. Vincent's Cemetery in Vallejo.

His Medal of Honor legacy rests not only on the violence of Mobile Bay, but on the determination with which he remained at his post under fire. He entered the battle as a coal heaver aboard Farragut's flagship, lost both arms in the fighting, and survived to see his courage formally recognized by the United States Navy.