Robert Sommers

Kept Ticonderoga's guns roaring 3 days at Fort Fisher!

Chief Quartermaster Robert Sommers ((later anglicized to Summers)) fought aboard USS Ticonderoga through three days of the final assault on Fort Fisher and then remained in naval service for decades. Born in Prussia in December 1837, he served in the Union Navy under a name that also appears in official records as Robert Summers.

From 13 to 15 January 1865, Ticonderoga took position in the battle line off Fort Fisher and maintained a directed fire against the defenses. Enemy shots fell over and around the vessel, but her guns continued firing through three consecutive days until Union forces captured the fort. Sommers's performance in that action earned the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor Citation (condensed)

For extraordinary service aboard USS Ticonderoga during the attacks on Fort Fisher, where the ship maintained effective fire under enemy fire through three consecutive days of battle.

Sommers continued in the Navy after the Civil War. Official Navy registers record him as an acting gunner from 1873, later chief gunner, and show that he retired on 17 December 1899. That continuing active service supports retention of his Spanish Campaign Medal as well as the Navy Civil War Campaign Medal. He died on 1 December 1919 and was buried in the United States Naval Academy Cemetery at Annapolis.