Stephen Potter Corliss

He Carried the Fallen Colors Into the Enemy Works

Stephen Potter Corliss was born on July 26, 1842, in Albany, New York. During the American Civil War, he entered the United States Army and began a military career that would take him through artillery service, captivity, promotion, and a dramatic battlefield action that ultimately earned him the Medal of Honor.

Corliss enlisted on August 12, 1862, and initially served with the 11th New York Light Artillery. As the war continued, he advanced into commissioned service. On June 26, 1864, he became a second lieutenant in the 4th New York Heavy Artillery, a regiment that, despite its artillery designation, was frequently used as infantry during the demanding campaigns in Virginia.

His wartime service soon brought him into serious danger. On August 25, 1864, during the Second Battle of Ream’s Station, Corliss was captured by Confederate forces. He remained a prisoner of war for several months before returning to Union lines near the end of December.

After his return, Corliss continued serving with the 4th New York Heavy Artillery. He advanced to first lieutenant and resumed duty during the final months of the conflict. By the spring of 1865, Confederate defenses around Petersburg and Richmond were beginning to collapse under relentless Union pressure.

On April 2, 1865, Corliss and his regiment were engaged near the South Side Railroad in Virginia during the fighting around Sutherland’s Station. The railroad was strategically important because it remained one of the principal supply and retreat routes available to Confederate forces defending Petersburg.

Union troops launched repeated attacks against the Confederate position, and the fighting became severe.

During the advance, the color sergeant of Corliss’s regiment was killed.

The regimental colors fell.

Corliss immediately seized them.

Carrying the flag himself, he moved forward in front of his troops and advanced toward the Confederate works. Instead of directing the assault from behind the line, he placed himself at the front where the danger was greatest.

He continued forward and planted the colors on the enemy works.

In Civil War combat, regimental flags were much more than ceremonial symbols. They served as visual rallying points, helped units maintain direction in smoke and confusion, and represented the identity and honor of the regiment. The men carrying them were highly visible and often became deliberate targets.

By picking up the fallen colors and carrying them ahead of the troops, Corliss exposed himself to intense danger.

His action gave the soldiers around him a clear point to follow. What might have become a moment of hesitation after the color bearer fell instead became an advance toward the Confederate position.

That moment became the defining action of Corliss’s military career.

His Medal of Honor recognition focused specifically on his decision to take up the fallen flag, move ahead of the men, and place the colors on the enemy works. No additional battlefield legend is necessary. The documented action itself captures the courage and leadership that made his conduct exceptional.

The battle came during the final collapse of the Confederate defensive system around Petersburg. Union breakthroughs on April 2 forced General Robert E. Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. The retreat that followed would end only days later at Appomattox Court House.

Corliss survived the fighting and continued his military service through the closing period of the war. His record eventually brought him the brevet rank of colonel, the highest verified rank associated with his wartime career.

Nearly thirty years passed before his battlefield courage received formal national recognition.

On January 17, 1895, Stephen Potter Corliss was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on April 2, 1865. The award recognized the moment when he picked up the fallen colors and carried them forward onto the Confederate works.

The Medal of Honor had been created during the Civil War, but many veterans received recognition decades after the actions for which they were honored. Corliss was one of those men whose courage was formally acknowledged long after the battlefield itself had fallen silent.

After the war, Corliss returned to civilian life. His later years were far removed from the smoke and confusion of the Virginia battlefield, but his military record preserved the defining moments of his service: enlistment, promotion, captivity, return to duty, and the final assault in which he carried his regiment’s colors forward.

Stephen Potter Corliss died on May 9, 1904, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was buried in Albany Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York.

His legacy is closely tied to the meaning of the regimental colors he carried that day.

When the color sergeant fell, Corliss did not allow the flag to remain on the ground.

He picked it up.

Then he carried it forward.

By advancing ahead of his troops and planting the colors on the Confederate works, Stephen Potter Corliss transformed a moment of loss into a rallying point for the soldiers around him. That act of courage and leadership became the defining moment of his military service and earned him the Medal of Honor.