Sylvester D. Rhodes

He Seized a Gun and Turned It on the Enemy

Sylvester D. Rhodes was born in December 1842 in Plains, Pennsylvania, in Luzerne County. When the American Civil War divided the nation, he entered United States Army service from the Wilkes-Barre area and became a member of Company D, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry. By 1864 he was serving as a sergeant, a noncommissioned officer responsible not only for fighting alongside his men but also for helping maintain order and leadership within the ranks.

The 61st Pennsylvania Infantry was a battle-tested Union regiment that served in major campaigns in the eastern theater. By the late summer of 1864, the regiment was operating in the Shenandoah Valley as Union forces under Major General Philip Sheridan sought to defeat the Confederate Army of the Valley commanded by Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early. The campaign had become strategically important because Confederate forces in the Valley threatened Union territory and provided continuing pressure against Federal operations elsewhere in Virginia.

On September 19, 1864, Sheridan's forces defeated Early at the Third Battle of Winchester. The Confederate army withdrew south and occupied a formidable defensive position at Fisher's Hill, near Strasburg, Virginia. The ridge stretched across a narrow part of the Shenandoah Valley and offered Early's troops strong natural and prepared defenses. Union commanders recognized that a direct frontal assault against the position could be costly, so Sheridan's army combined a flanking movement against the Confederate left with pressure against the center and right.

On September 22, 1864, Sergeant Rhodes was serving with Company D of the 61st Pennsylvania Infantry as the Union attack developed. His Medal of Honor action occurred while he was operating on the skirmish line advancing against the Confederate defenses. As the Federal skirmishers drove the enemy from the first line of entrenchments, Rhodes moved aggressively with the advance.

During the breakthrough, Rhodes became the first man to enter the Confederate breastworks. Once inside the position, he captured one of the enemy's artillery pieces. Rather than simply securing the gun, he turned the captured weapon against the retreating Confederate forces. His conduct placed him at the leading edge of the Union assault at a moment when the Confederate defensive position was beginning to collapse.

The action formed part of the larger Union success at Fisher's Hill. Federal troops penetrated and rolled up Early's defensive line, forcing the Confederates into another retreat only three days after their defeat at Winchester. The victory strengthened Union control in the Shenandoah Valley and further weakened Early's ability to conduct effective offensive operations there.

Rhodes survived the battle and continued his military career. Although he held the rank of sergeant during the action for which he became famous, he eventually attained the rank of captain. The distinction is important: his Medal of Honor was earned through his conduct as a sergeant on the battlefield at Fisher's Hill, while captain represented the highest rank he later reached.

Recognition for his actions did not come immediately. More than three decades passed between the battle and the formal award. On February 16, 1897, Sylvester D. Rhodes was issued the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at Fisher's Hill. The official citation specifically recognized his role on the skirmish line, his position as the first man to enter the breastworks, his capture of an enemy gun, and his decision to turn that weapon against Confederate forces.

The Medal of Honor represented the nation's formal recognition of an act performed amid one of the decisive Union attacks of the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Rhodes's distinction rested on a clearly documented battlefield achievement: advancing with the skirmishers into a fortified enemy position, reaching the works first, and capturing artillery during the breakthrough.

Rhodes lived for several years after receiving the decoration. He died on August 29, 1904, in Parsons, Pennsylvania. He was buried at Hollenbeck Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, returning in death to the region with which his early life and military service had been closely associated.

Sylvester D. Rhodes is remembered as a U.S. Army soldier whose defining moment came at Fisher's Hill on September 22, 1864. Serving then as a sergeant of Company D, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry, he moved at the front of the assault, entered the Confederate defenses ahead of his comrades, captured an artillery piece, and turned it against the enemy. More than thirty years later, that action brought him the Medal of Honor and secured his place among the decorated soldiers of the American Civil War.