William Talbott

William Talbot, recorded as William Talbott in his Medal of Honor papers, was an English-born sailor who made a new life in Maine before serving with distinction in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

Talbot was born in Liverpool, England, in about 1814. At the age of sixteen, he immigrated to the United States and arrived at Bath, Maine, in August 1830. He married Priscilla on 4 September 1834, and the couple raised five sons and a daughter. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 7 July 1848. By 1860 he was living in West Bath and working as a rigger, a skilled occupation closely connected with the ships and maritime industry of the Maine coast. (Encyclopedia of Arkansas)

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Talbot entered the United States Navy. By late 1862 he was serving aboard USS Louisville, one of the Union Navy’s City-class ironclad gunboats operating on the western rivers. His rating was Captain of the Forecastle, an experienced senior enlisted position, and during combat he was responsible for a heavy nine-inch gun. (Congressional Medal of Honor Society)

In January 1863, USS Louisville joined the combined Army and Navy expedition against Arkansas Post and Fort Hindman on the Arkansas River. The Confederate position threatened Union movement along the Mississippi system, and a large Federal force was sent to eliminate it.

On 10 January, Louisville and the other Union gunboats opened fire against Fort Hindman. Talbot and his gun crew worked their nine-inch weapon under enemy fire as the ironclads bombarded the Confederate defenses. The gunboats returned on 11 January and continued their attack until the fort’s artillery had been silenced. Louisville suffered casualties during the engagement, but the naval bombardment helped force the Confederate garrison to surrender. (Encyclopedia of Arkansas)

Talbot’s conduct during the fighting brought him the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor Citation

The official citation records that Talbott served aboard USS Louisville during the capture of Arkansas Post on 10 and 11 January 1863 and performed his duties as captain of a nine-inch gun with exceptional ability and bravery throughout the engagement. The contemporary wording described him as being “conspicuous for ability and bravery throughout this engagement with the enemy.” (Congressional Medal of Honor Society)

His Medal of Honor was authorized under General Order No. 32 in April 1865. He was not a posthumous recipient and survived the Civil War. (Congressional Medal of Honor Society)

After leaving naval service, Talbot returned to Bath and resumed his civilian occupation as a rigger. His postwar life appears to have been quiet compared with his wartime service. By about 1880, declining health described as “weak lungs” prevented him from continuing to work. (Encyclopedia of Arkansas)

Talbot remained in Maine for the rest of his life. He died at Bath on 5 September 1899 and was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society also records his burial there. (Congressional Medal of Honor Society)

His family retained its connection to American naval history. One of his sons, Frank Talbot, later served aboard USS Maine and died when the ship exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898, an event that helped precipitate the Spanish-American War. (The Portland Press Herald)

William Talbot’s own place in American military history was established thirty-five years earlier aboard USS Louisville. As captain of a nine-inch gun during the assault on Arkansas Post, he remained at his station through two days of combat and performed his duties with the courage and skill that brought him the nation’s highest military decoration.

From an immigrant teenager arriving in the shipbuilding community of Bath, Maine, to a Union Navy gun captain under fire on the western rivers, William Talbot’s life reflected both the maritime world of nineteenth-century America and the service of thousands of immigrant sailors who fought to preserve the Union.