William H. Raymond

William H. Raymond

William H. Raymond was born on May 30, 1844, in Penfield, Monroe County, New York. He came of age as the United States entered the American Civil War and joined the Union war effort as a young man. His military career would take him into some of the hardest fighting experienced by the Army of the Potomac, but his name became permanently associated with one particular act of courage at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

Raymond served in the United States Army with Company A of the 108th New York Volunteer Infantry. The regiment had been recruited principally in Monroe County and organized at Rochester, New York, during the summer of 1862. After being mustered into federal service, it left New York and soon became part of the Army of the Potomac.

The 108th New York was assigned to the II Corps, an organization that would become one of the most heavily engaged formations in the eastern theater. The regiment’s first major battle came at Antietam in September 1862, only a short time after it entered federal service. It later fought at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before marching north during the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863.

By the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, William Raymond had advanced to the rank of Corporal. That was his verified rank during the action for which he would later receive the Medal of Honor.

The 108th New York reached Gettysburg as part of the II Corps and occupied a position along the Union defensive line. During July 2 and July 3, the regiment was subjected to severe artillery and rifle fire while supporting Union positions near the center of the battlefield. Its Gettysburg service was costly, reflecting the intensity of the fighting in this critical sector.

On the morning of July 3, Company A and other soldiers from the regiment were engaged on the skirmish line in front of the main Union position.

Skirmishers operated ahead of the main battle line. They screened larger formations, observed enemy movements, exchanged fire with opposing skirmishers, and attempted to disrupt enemy preparations. Because they were positioned in advance of the principal force, resupplying them during active combat could be extremely dangerous.

As the fighting continued, Raymond’s comrades on the skirmish line needed ammunition.

Carrying additional ammunition forward required a soldier to leave the relative protection of the main Union line and cross ground exposed to Confederate fire. The task offered little protection and placed whoever attempted it directly in danger.

Corporal William H. Raymond volunteered.

Under severe enemy fire, Raymond carried a box of ammunition forward to his comrades on the skirmish line.

This straightforward but exceptionally dangerous act became the basis of his Medal of Honor.

The official citation later summarized his conduct in concise terms, recognizing that he voluntarily brought ammunition to his comrades while under severe fire. Unlike Medal of Honor actions involving the capture of a flag, the rescue of a wounded officer, or the seizure of an enemy position, Raymond’s heroism centered on ensuring that soldiers in an exposed forward position could continue fighting.

The significance of the action becomes clearer when placed within the wider events of July 3. The Union center at Gettysburg was subjected to an enormous Confederate artillery bombardment before the infantry assault commonly remembered as Pickett’s Charge. The 108th New York occupied ground in the sector that faced this increasing Confederate pressure.

The regiment’s battlefield monument at Gettysburg records that it occupied its position on July 2 and July 3 while supporting Battery I of the 1st U.S. Artillery. During the great artillery exchange of July 3, the regiment endured intense enemy fire while remaining in position.

Raymond’s ammunition mission therefore occurred during one of the most dangerous days of the entire Civil War and at a time when his regiment was operating in a crucial portion of the Union line.

He survived Gettysburg and continued his military career.

Raymond eventually advanced from the enlisted ranks and became a Second Lieutenant. This was the highest verified rank of his Army service.

His database record must therefore preserve two different ranks. His Medal of Honor action-time rank was Corporal, while his highest verified military rank was Second Lieutenant.

The 108th New York continued to serve with the Army of the Potomac after Gettysburg. The regiment subsequently participated in the difficult campaigns that carried Union forces through Virginia during the remaining years of the war. Its official regimental history records operations at locations including Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, the approaches to Petersburg, Hatcher’s Run, and the final campaigns of 1865.

However, a regiment’s campaign history should not automatically be treated as proof of an individual soldier’s presence in every engagement. Raymond’s own profile is therefore best centered on the service and events that can be securely connected to him: his duty with Company A, his Gettysburg action, his later advancement to Second Lieutenant, and his Medal of Honor recognition.

Remarkably, Raymond did not receive the Medal of Honor during the Civil War.

More than thirty years passed before the United States formally recognized his action at Gettysburg.

The Medal of Honor had been authorized for the Army by Congress in 1862, but many Civil War soldiers received their decorations years or even decades after the acts for which they were honored. Recommendations could be assembled later from military records, surviving witnesses, official reports, and veterans’ testimony.

William H. Raymond was formally presented with the Medal of Honor on March 10, 1896.

The difference between his action date and award date is especially important for reconstructing his correct historical ribbon.

His act of heroism occurred on July 3, 1863.

His Medal of Honor was presented on March 10, 1896.

Because the medal was actually issued in 1896, the correct database representation is Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1896.

The 1896–1903 date range identifies the historical Army Medal of Honor design and ribbon period applicable when Raymond received the decoration. It does not change the date of his heroic action, which remains Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.

No clasp, bar, star, oak leaf cluster, or other additional device has been verified for Raymond’s Medal of Honor. His final verified Medal of Honor entry is therefore one plain Medal of Honor without an additional device.

A Civil War Campaign Medal has not been included in Raymond’s verified ribbon rack.

His Civil War service is firmly established, but that fact alone does not prove recipient-specific entitlement to the later-created Civil War Campaign Medal. Under the evidence standard used for his profile, a campaign medal must be supported by individual issuance, entitlement, or equivalent recipient-specific documentation.

No sufficiently strong recipient-specific evidence has been established showing that William H. Raymond personally received or was specifically entitled to the Civil War Campaign Medal. It therefore remains excluded from his final verified rack.

His verified medal history is consequently limited to Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1896, with no device or clasp.

Raymond lived for more than half a century after the Battle of Gettysburg. The surviving authoritative record preserves much more detail about his military distinction than about many aspects of his later civilian career, so uncertain claims about his occupation or family life should not be added without stronger evidence.

What is firmly documented is that he survived into the twentieth century and eventually lived in Washington, D.C.

William H. Raymond died in Washington on December 7, 1916, at the age of seventy-two.

He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where his grave permanently identifies him as a Medal of Honor recipient.

Raymond’s military legacy rests on an act that was practical, necessary, and extraordinarily dangerous. Soldiers on the skirmish line at Gettysburg required ammunition. Someone had to carry it across exposed ground while Confederate fire covered the approach.

Corporal William H. Raymond volunteered to do it.

His action did not involve command of a large formation or a dramatic capture of enemy colors. It represented another essential form of battlefield courage: willingly exposing himself to enemy fire so that his comrades could continue their mission.

Thirty-three years later, the United States recognized that act with the Medal of Honor.

William H. Raymond is therefore remembered as a soldier of Company A, 108th New York Infantry, a Corporal during his heroic action at Gettysburg, later a Second Lieutenant, and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. His single verified decoration, Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1896, preserves the official recognition of the courage he demonstrated when he voluntarily carried desperately needed ammunition to his comrades on the skirmish line under severe fire on July 3, 1863.