Thomas R. Kerr

Wounded and horseless, he seized the flag in fierce battle!!

Captain Thomas R. Kerr was already in the thick of the cavalry fight at Moorefield, West Virginia, on 7 August 1864 when he was badly wounded. Despite wounds and the loss of his horse, he captured the colors of the Confederate 8th Virginia Cavalry, the act for which he later received the Medal of Honor.

Kerr was born on 24 April 1843 near Coleraine in County Derry, Ireland. During the Civil War he served in Company C, 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Congressional Medal of Honor Society material records that he entered the regiment as a second lieutenant and had been promoted to captain by the time of the Moorefield action.

The battle developed into a Union cavalry success against Confederate forces in the Shenandoah region. Kerr was wounded in the face and thigh, and his horse was killed, but he succeeded in taking the enemy regimental flag.

Medal of Honor Citation (condensed)

At Moorefield on 7 August 1864, Captain Kerr, though desperately wounded, captured the colors of the Confederate 8th Virginia Cavalry.

The Medal of Honor was presented on 13 June 1894. Kerr survived the war and later lived in Pittsburgh. He died there on 14 November 1926 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His qualifying Army service supports the Civil War Campaign Medal. No additional ribbon device is established.