William Donaldson Dickey

Wounded by Shellfire, He Refused to Leave the Field

William Donaldson Dickey was born on January 11, 1845, in Newburgh, New York. He grew up in the Hudson Valley and received his education at Newburgh Academy and Mount Retirement Seminary in New Jersey. His youth coincided with a period of mounting national crisis, and when the American Civil War entered its second year, he began a military career that would eventually take him from enlisted service to field command.

On May 26, 1862, Dickey entered service at Newburgh as a sergeant in Company I of the 19th Regiment, New York State National Guard. His first period of duty was relatively brief, ending when he mustered out in September. He soon returned to military service, however, and on November 26, 1862, was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in Company I of the 168th New York Infantry.

The 168th New York served for a limited term, and Dickey remained with the regiment until it mustered out in October 1863. His military career did not end there. In February 1864 he accepted a commission as Captain of Battery M, 15th New York Heavy Artillery. Although designated as heavy artillery, the regiment was drawn into the demanding ground operations of the Army of the Potomac during the final campaigns in Virginia.

By June 1864, Union forces were moving against Petersburg, a strategically vital railroad and supply center south of Richmond. The fighting around the city developed into a brutal struggle in which fortified positions, artillery, and infantry assaults combined to produce heavy casualties. It was during these operations that Dickey performed the act that would eventually bring him the Medal of Honor.

On June 17, 1864, Captain Dickey was commanding Battery M in action at Petersburg when he was struck and wounded by a piece of shell. His injury gave him ample reason to leave the battlefield for medical attention, but he refused to abandon his command. He remained with his men despite the wound and continued exercising command under combat conditions.

His courage did not end with simply remaining on the field. On the following day, Dickey led his command in an assault against the enemy’s works. The official account of his Medal of Honor action is concise, but its essential meaning is unmistakable: wounded by shellfire, he refused to leave his soldiers and then personally led them forward in renewed combat.

That combination of endurance and leadership became the defining episode of his wartime service. Dickey was still only nineteen years old when the action took place. Yet he already carried the responsibility of a captain commanding men in one of the Civil War’s most dangerous campaigns. His decision to remain at his post while wounded demonstrated not only physical courage but also a determination to maintain command when his unit was under severe pressure.

Dickey continued serving after Petersburg. By the final months of the war he had accumulated extensive field experience, and on May 22, 1865, he was promoted to Major in the 15th New York Heavy Artillery. He remained with the regiment until it was mustered out at Washington, D.C., on August 22, 1865. His wartime record later brought additional brevet recognition for gallant and meritorious service.

At only twenty years old, Dickey returned to civilian life with several years of military service behind him. He turned toward the law, studied in a legal office, and later attended Albany Law School. He established himself professionally in Newburgh and became involved in both legal practice and public affairs.

In 1868, he married Kate W. Richmond. Over the following decades, Dickey built a career that extended far beyond his wartime experience. He served as Corporation Counsel for the City of Newburgh on several occasions and became an established member of the legal community. His public service expanded further when he became a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1894.

More than three decades had passed since the fighting at Petersburg when national recognition finally came for his battlefield conduct. On June 10, 1896, William Donaldson Dickey received the Medal of Honor for his actions of June 17 and 18, 1864. The award recognized his refusal to leave the field after being wounded by shellfire and his leadership in the assault on the enemy’s works the following day.

The delay of thirty-two years did not diminish the significance of the decoration. The Medal of Honor formally preserved an episode that had occurred when Dickey was a teenage captain leading soldiers through one of the hardest phases of the Civil War. His action at Petersburg remained the central military achievement for which he was nationally remembered.

The same year he received the Medal of Honor, Dickey entered another important phase of public service when he was elected a Justice of the New York Supreme Court. His transition from Civil War officer to lawyer, civic official, constitutional convention delegate, and judge reflected a long postwar career shaped by public responsibility.

Dickey eventually made his home in Brooklyn. By then he had lived through the Civil War, Reconstruction, the transformation of New York, and the emergence of the United States as a modern industrial nation. Yet the event that continued to define his military legacy remained those two days at Petersburg in June 1864.

William Donaldson Dickey died on May 14, 1924, in Brooklyn at the age of seventy-nine. He was buried in The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where many prominent veterans and public figures of his generation were laid to rest.

His life joined two very different forms of service. As a young Army officer, he remained in command after being wounded and led his men forward against enemy defenses. In civilian life, he pursued the law and served his community and state through public office and the judiciary. The Medal of Honor he received in 1896 ensured that the courage he displayed as a nineteen-year-old captain at Petersburg would remain the enduring symbol of a life devoted to military and public service.