Robert Goldthwaite Carter

He Held the Line When the Right Flank Broke!

Robert Goldthwaite Carter was born on October 29, 1845, in Bridgton, Maine. His family later moved to Massachusetts, and when the American Civil War was raging he entered military service while still in his teens. On August 5, 1862, Carter enlisted as a private in Company H of the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry.

Carter served with the regiment for more than two years, experiencing the demanding life of a Union infantryman during some of the most difficult years of the war. He remained in service until October 4, 1864. His Civil War service would later be recognized by the Army Civil War Campaign Medal, established in 1907 for qualifying military service during the conflict.

After the war, Carter chose the Army as a profession. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1865 and graduated on June 15, 1870. Commissioned into the 4th U.S. Cavalry, he was sent west to Texas, where the Army was conducting difficult frontier operations across vast and often isolated territory.

Carter soon found himself campaigning against Native American forces on the Texas frontier. His service fell within the campaigns later recognized by the Indian Campaign Medal, which was established in 1907 for soldiers who had taken part in designated operations during the Indian Wars.

His most famous action came on October 10, 1871, near the Brazos River in Texas. Carter, then a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Cavalry, was operating with a small detachment when a much larger force attacked.

As the fighting intensified, the right side of the soldiers' line gave way. Carter remained on the left with only a handful of men. Rather than retreat immediately, he organized rapid fire against the attacking force and held his position while the pressure mounted.

Carter and the few soldiers beside him continued firing until additional troops arrived. Their resistance checked the attack long enough for reinforcement to reach the endangered position. His refusal to abandon the line under overwhelming pressure became the defining act of his military career.

Carter continued serving on the frontier after the Brazos River action. In May 1873, during operations at Remolino, Mexico, he again distinguished himself in combat. His frontier service brought brevet recognition, including advancement to brevet captain for gallant conduct.

He was promoted to first lieutenant in February 1875. Years of demanding military service, however, had taken a physical toll. Carter was retired from active Army service on June 28, 1876, because of disability contracted in the line of duty.

Recognition for his 1871 stand came many years later. On February 27, 1900, Robert Goldthwaite Carter received the Medal of Honor. The decoration honored the moment when, with the right of the line already driven back, he and a few men held the left and maintained such determined fire that the attacking force was checked until help arrived.

The Medal of Honor became the most distinguished recognition of Carter's service, while the Army Civil War Campaign Medal represented his earlier service as a young Union infantryman and the Indian Campaign Medal reflected his years of frontier campaigning with the 4th U.S. Cavalry. Together, the three medals marked two very different chapters of his long military experience.

After leaving active service, Carter became an important chronicler of the campaigns he had witnessed. He wrote extensively about both the Civil War and Army operations in Texas, preserving personal recollections and military history from an era in which he had participated directly. His works included accounts of his own service as well as broader recollections of soldiers and frontier campaigns.

Among his publications were The Boy Soldier at Gettysburg, Four Brothers in Blue, and his autobiographical Record of the Military Service of First Lieutenant and Brevet Captain Robert Goldthwaite Carter, U.S. Army, 1862–1876. Late in life he also published material drawn from his experiences campaigning on the Texas frontier.

Robert Goldthwaite Carter died on January 4, 1936, at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

His military life stretched from the battlefields of the Civil War to the cavalry campaigns of the American frontier. Yet his Medal of Honor traced back to a single moment in 1871, when part of his line collapsed and only a few men remained beside him. Carter stayed in position, kept his men firing, and held the enemy long enough for reinforcements to arrive—an act of determination under fire that earned him the nation's highest military decoration.