George Theodore Hyatt

He Joined the Forlorn Hope at Vicksburg

George Theodore Hyatt was born on July 3, 1830, in Milton, Pennsylvania. His family later moved to Gardner, Illinois, where Hyatt spent part of his early life before becoming a teacher. When the American Civil War began, he was living in Missouri, but he returned to Illinois and entered Union service, beginning a military career that would eventually place him among the soldiers honored for extraordinary courage at Vicksburg.

Hyatt was mustered into Company D of the 127th Illinois Volunteer Infantry as a sergeant on September 5, 1862. His leadership soon brought advancement, and on March 10, 1863, he was promoted to first sergeant. The regiment became part of the Union operations directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, one of the Confederacy's most important strongholds on the Mississippi River.

On May 22, 1863, Union forces launched a major assault against the formidable Confederate defenses at Vicksburg. Before the main attack could advance, a group of volunteers was needed to undertake an exceptionally dangerous preliminary mission. These soldiers were to move ahead of the attacking force, cross exposed ground under enemy fire, help bridge defensive obstacles, and place scaling ladders where Union troops could attempt to storm the fortifications. Because of the extreme danger involved, the group became known as the "volunteer storming party," or the "forlorn hope."

First Sergeant Hyatt volunteered for the mission. As the storming party advanced toward the Confederate positions, its members were exposed to intense defensive fire. The assault encountered fierce resistance and failed to break through the Vicksburg defenses, leaving surviving members of the advanced party trapped close to the Confederate works for much of the day. Hyatt survived the ordeal, and his conduct during the charge was later officially recognized for gallantry.

The fighting at Vicksburg did not immediately end with the failed May 22 assault. Union forces instead continued siege operations until the Confederate garrison surrendered on July 4, 1863, giving the Union control of one of the most strategically important positions on the Mississippi River. Hyatt continued serving with the 127th Illinois Infantry after the Vicksburg Campaign.

His wartime service later took him into the campaigns associated with the Union advance through Georgia. During the Atlanta Campaign he suffered a serious wound that ultimately affected his ability to continue military service. After serving for more than two years, Hyatt was discharged from the Army in March 1865 because of the effects of his wound.

The extraordinary action at Vicksburg remained formally unrecognized for decades. More than thirty years after the battle, Hyatt received the Medal of Honor on July 9, 1894. His official citation honored his "gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party" on May 22, 1863. The decoration recognized the courage he had shown as a first sergeant when he voluntarily joined one of the most dangerous assault parties of the Vicksburg Campaign.

Hyatt lived for several more years after receiving the Medal of Honor. He died on May 7, 1900, in Joliet, Illinois, at the age of sixty-nine. He was originally buried at Lockport Cemetery in Illinois. Nearly a century later, his remains were transferred to Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois, where he was reinterred in 1999.

George Theodore Hyatt's military legacy is centered on the assault at Vicksburg on May 22, 1863. As First Sergeant of Company D, 127th Illinois Infantry, he voluntarily entered an operation whose dangers were obvious before it began and advanced with the storming party against heavily defended Confederate positions. More than three decades later, the Medal of Honor permanently recognized the gallantry he displayed during that desperate charge.