greetings everyone today um my name is of course john corstein i'm director emeritus of the uss monitor center and uh here at the mariners museum in park and today i'm going to be telling a very uh unique story during the civil war actually it's at the top of the peninsula outside of richmond and it's known as the battle of newmarket heights i do want to let you all know that newmarket heights is part of a larger context and often it's just referred to as the battle of chafin's bluff but actually chaffin's bluff is a two-part battle which includes the battle of newmarket heights as well as the battle and capture of fort harrison this was very very critical and you have to realize that this is in september september 29th through october 1st really we're going to be concerned with the first day battle uh today uh which would be uh september 29th i tried to get this date as close as i could but uh the base basic thing is that um during the spring offensive grant has of course come down crossing germanna ford and trying to push lee's army back towards richmond and actually to capture richmond as part of his grand strategy and you have to realize grant was of course general in chief of the u.s army he had everybody moving at the same time as best he could he had uh you know nathaniel banks up the red river he had sherman beginning his move down from chattanooga in towards atlanta he also has his army and then another army that's going to be here in virginia and it is the uh army of the james which is commanded by a benjamin franklin butler we'll see a picture of him in a moment but what i want to say is um that grant while he's moving into the wilderness he will send ben butler from yorktown virginia to go all the way around the lower peninsula up the james to bermuda 100 where he's supposed to strike at the confederate rail lines if he breaks those rail lines richmond cannot be held consequently uh you know the union would be victorious now i have to tell you that this is um a grand plan but he's dealing with benjamin o butler who um i mean benjamin f butler benjamin franklin butler benjamin uh butler ben butler as they mostly call him is known as spoons he's many people say all sorts of terrible things about him one thing we do know that he is a brilliant politician a slickster lawyer so actually from a political standpoint he's the man that creates the contraband of war decision he's the man also that has the woman's order in new orleans kind of proving to the local inhabitants that the union is in charge in many ways however one thing he's not noted for is his military competence and so when he brings his army of the james 35 000 men all the way to read 100 he does not break those cut those railroads he is going to be corked in a bottle according to ulysses s grant so here we have an impotent army that is the contains the largest contingent of united states colored troops uh in the uh union army in one unit so this becomes very very important but i have to tell you butler has been recruiting african americans ever since the militia act of january first 1863 had passed and consequently what he will do is uh go through gloucester county york county you name it recruiting these african-american soldiers and so he does um find a great deal of troops he actually orders his officers that the recruitment of colored troops have become a subtle purpose of the government it is the duty of every officer and soldier to aid in this recruiting irrespective of personal predilection so african americans are becoming uh guarding both ends of his flanks one happens to be the rockbridge artillery and the other happens to be the richmond howitzers extremely famous units during the war now um basically the confederates wake up at 5am in the morning they kind of hear something's coming their way so they have a hot breakfast they get their guns ready and basically the federals do not get a breakfast they're tired and they when they get near newmarket heights itself they will um actually boil some coffee and drop off their gnat sacks and form their lines new market heights of course um had a signal tower so the confederates could see what's going on they had artillery batteries so it's a well defensive line now burn bernie is supposed to have 16 000 men with him because of straggling misconstrued orders this attack is only against new market heights is only going to have about 10 600 effectives now as the soldiers lined up i got to tell you that this is an ominous looking site that you have to attack and butler rides amongst his men shouting remember fort pillow fort pillow is an engagement in the western theater where confederate soldiers led by nathaniel bedford forest were shooting prisoners and it was just not good because they were black soldiers and so you know butler tries to get them all ready now he does give one order saying we're going to attack with our muskets uncapped and the thing is he didn't want the men to stop and fire and then reload he wanted to have a definite rush that would go up the heights and take it from the confederates and so he uh you know so this is truly a bayonet charge he wanted to make sure that the officers were able to be heard above the den of battle so this is just a pure banette charge which is going to put the usct at a very very uh difficult position now around 5 a.m the skirmishers of the 22nd usct will actually start to engage confederate um skirmishers and so the soldiers of duncan's brigade of fourth and sixth usct um they had no knowledge of where the other units of payne's division were in the attack they were delayed by swampy terrain so they were spearheading this attack on their own now what did they have to do they had to reach the confederate earthworks they had to cross um about 500 yards of rising plane across this plane was four mile creek which caused a marshy but not impassable swamp uh beyond the creek uh was a heavy wooded ravine and which ran parallel to newmarket heights and beyond the ravine another open plane of about 300 yards sloping northward towards the road and the confederate best works and i have to tell you the confederates had also put in two rows of abate battis or as confederates would say pointy sticks set to freeze and so they had to you know when the confederates recognize there is no covering artillery barrage and duncan's regiment employed in a skirmish line about 200 yards long with the fourth leaning and the sixth ethelond in the rear he described his men disappearing as they entered a fog that enrapped them like a mantle of death when we were ordered to do our duty we went like men said christian fleetwood the confederates held their fire until the the usct across the open field and you know the confederates knew that there were black troops fighting and so they moved forward actually private joseph p paulie of the fourth texas described the attack oh began with a roar that sounded like the bellowing of ten thousand wild bulls uh yes you know they were really ready uh to make this attack now they pressed their line into the um shutter phrase and uh basically um the men got through it and they dropped to the ground and then by this time most of the officers were either killed or wounded and so the sergeants of the fourth usct took over leadership and after the battle fleet would describe the carnage's diary when the charge was started our color guard was full two sergeants and ten corporals only one of the twelve came off that field in his own feet most of them are still most of them lay there still it was a deadly hailstone of bullets sweeping men down as hailstones swept the leaves from trees it was very evident that there was too much work cut out for our two regiments we struggled to two lines of havoc a few getting through to the palisades but it was sheer madness as the fourth usct became entangled um in this first line of ebete the veteran soldiers of frederick bass the texans fire this um tremendous volley and uh so these men were all easy targets and were pretty well shot down their foothold above the abate only lasted for moments bass's texans swarmed out of their earthworks and pounced upon their uh enemies and so actually the u.s fourth usc key is going to be blown apart and so most of the attackers were killed outright um there are some reports that uh some of the captured were either sent to libby prison shot or made servants when duncan fell by four wounds the command passed to colonel james ames of the sixth usst instead of supporting the fourth the men of the six launched their own attack um and this is going to not bear any better than the first attack however uh aims sent them in a column advanced six men across in an effort to try and pierce a part of the confederate line colonel ames said it was a pretty terrible encounter we were all cut to pieces now i have to tell you that uh they are not done yet alfonso um uh draper has a his second brigade has 13 000 men and the fifth 36th and 38th usct moved out to make an attack draper of course also put his men into a column with the fifth usct leading um and instead of presenting a long line of targets they were a very central force well it didn't really make any difference because they were marching into a terrible blast of musketry and artillery and they hacked their way through the up and struggled towards earthwork and just like other regiments beforehand the sergeants had to take up the colors rallyingly men and draper because he's badly wounded he is the only one that writes an after-action report of this engagement um after passing about 300 yards the young pines always under fire we emerged upon the open plane about 800 yards to enemies work within 20 or 30 yards the rebel line we found a swamp with broke the charge our men were following by the scores all the officers were striving constantly get the men forward well the um african-american sergeants and the white officers um were able to really gain success and however all sudden the confederate fires started to wither and uh so the fourth and sixth usct are going to be swept up in draper's attack and um so and they're able to reach uh the confederate uh earthworks actually um private james gardner uh was one of the first to enter the confederate trenches uh he then shot and banned a uh confederate uh officer with the words six semper tyranus oh my gosh and so uh and this confederate officer is trying to rally his men on the parapets so um we have um you know this this amazing attack that uh some of the soldiers in the 36 were badly wounded i actually won uh corporal miles james of a 36. had his left arm so mangled it had to be immediately amputated does he stop no he uses one arm to fire his musket at the enemy and other soldiers like sergeant james h harris and edward ratcliffe others were just uh shot up by the confederate fire now while the uh um confederates are slipping out because ord's division or core is attacking fort harrison which is a more key uh site for the defenses of richmond um many of those troops move and so the ust regiments are able to take the crest of new market heights and one member of the texas brigade lieutenant jg pickens acknowledged that i want to say in this connection that in my opinion no troops up to that time had fought us with more bravery did those negroes well now uh the battle is going to shift um but questions you know are uh remain about you know why did the confederates retreat because they're threatened at uh fort harrison does this lessen the bravery of attacks or the success of the union attacks no it does not because these battered regiments will actually suffer serious 40 casualties and butler will immediately write edwin stanton secretary of war my colored troops under general payne carried entrenchments at the point of the bayonet and it was most gallantly done with most severe losses their praises are in the mouth of every officer of the army treated fairly and disciplined they have fought most heroically butler actually had his answer whether the ust could fight he actually said i felt in my inmost heart that the capacity of the negro race for soldiers had then and there been fully settled forever well that's you know amazing because that was uh in fact northern correspondents were amazed at the bravery of the the usct during this attack um one member of the new york herald thomas m look their charge in the face of obstacles interposing was one of the grand features of the day's operation they never halted or faltered though their ranks were sadly thinned by the charge and the slashing was filled with a slain and wounded of their number jacob and henry jacob wooster of the new york times is going to say it was a wonderful a sublime sight to see those black men stand up to the rack my gosh thomas morris chester who was a black reporter from the philadelphia press uh entered a uh dispatch he said uh i'm here five and a half a half miles from richmond that payne's division had covered itself with glory and wiped out effectively the imputation against fighting qualities of colored troops one thing is certain that the colored troops who composed this division convinced the most skeptical that the negroes will not only fight but will do it desperately why because they were fighting for the freedom of their brethren oh my gosh this is you know um it was a successful attack um and uh basically um butler decided um that he really wanted to do more than just words to honor these people who fought in newmarket heights and so um you know the medal of honor had been authorized in 1862 to be awarded at first just to enlisted men who fought on the battlefield and so many of the soldiers that were heroes at the battle of newmar usct soldiers that were heroes at the battle of newmarket heights people like private barnes gardner and veal along with corporal james they're all going to be promoted sergeants actually um the surviving white officers the fourth uh usct and butler backed it asked and petitioned the war department to make sergeant major christian anderson fleetwood a commissioned officer um they also tried to promote uh sergeant milton m holland of the fifth usct to be captain but they were the war department refused to consider uh these recommendations uh during the civil war you know 1 520 men and one woman received the medal of honor but only um so many african-americans received that honor to award a medal of honor recommendations from surviving regimental officers at first to go to division headquarters then to butler and a team of his subordinates they sifted and and figured out the names and then that list would be sent to general grant which further reviewed it and then sent it to the war department finally on august 6 1865 the war department bestowed the mental honor on 14 black veterans of newmarket heights the recipients all but sergeant alfred hilton who died in the hospital he suffered four grievous wounds during the action um um everyone else were still in the same unit and on april 6 1865 they will be um actually presented their medals of honor i have to tell you that one sergeant miles james who was a corporal at the time who lost his arm he said look i don't want to leave my regiment i want to stay with him so they gave him a duty with the provis marge and of course he proudly wore his butler's medal um you know these men continued to serve um with their units actually miles james will be in the front rank of his ust unit leading the march into richmond on april 3rd 1865. milton holland and christian fleetwood would be there at the surrender of general josephine johnson at durham station north carolina and actually their stories go way beyond of what they do after the war i have to say that i am really you know this battle just new market heights um was a union victory it cost 5 900 casualties 4 150 union and 1750 [Music] now who are these men where they come from what does it mean well private william barnes was a company with company c 30th usct and his citation although wounded he was amongst the first to enter the enemy's works he was promoted sergeant on 1 july 1865 and he died of tuberculosis on 24 december 1866 powerton beatty he's first sergeant with the fifth usct he was born in richmond 1849 he moves to cincinnati ohio he becomes um wait a second here i don't want to forget that's john gregg sometimes i forget mine this shows the complex attack against uh the union position um here's a better view of the column attacks uh that happen you can see where greg signal hill and the confederate lines there in newmarket heights uh this is charles payne uh who had a division of effort ears alonso draper commands a brigade of usct this is another view of the assault you can see the breakthrough spot and uh i have to say this is uh a scene of capturing fort harrison some african americans participated in the attack but the ones that received the medal of honor all did so at newmarket heights and so um you can recognize the follow-up attack at fort harrison which captured the fort but it is uh um of a tremendous note i have to say that there were two other white soldiers that received the medal of honor there at newmarket heights this is a beautiful painting by don trione he's one of the outstanding modern civil war artists and this actually shows edgerton who was actually born a quaker right and during the invasion of gettysburg he breaks his covenant he joins the pennsylvania militia and then he because he's an ardent abolitionist he is going to be um you know named as first lieutenant uh of um of the six usct and uh accident um so three color bearers have been shot down in this scene and basically lieutenant edgerson took up the flag after these they had been shot down and bore it forward though himself wounded two other medal of honor recipients you can see them to the left and right of edgerton um will be sergeant major thomas hawkins and first sergeant alexander kelly supported edgerton with the flags now i have to tell you one of the quirks is that edgerton did not receive his medal of honor until 1898 whereas hawkins and kelly will receive theirs on april 6 1865. why is this well as they're compiling the official records of the war the rebellion they start to note certain points of bravery and if edgerton is with these two african-american soldiers who had been victorious and and showing bravery saving the colors and the colors were so important you know there was only one person who won received two medal of honors during the civil war and that happens to be tom custer who actually captured two confederate flags one at nezame church and the other at the battle of salters creek his brother george guster only received one so that was kind of like bad vibes for custer there are some civil war veterans who will later receive medical honors during the indian wars but tom custer is the only one that receives two now let's uh talk about some of these other guys i really this scene is so inspiring uh and so vivid and real um they're you know numerous soldiers uh uh let me get to uh a couple of them that i want to talk about this is palatine uh it's misnamed gardner but this is palatine beatty and paleton beatty as i was saying moves to cincinnati goes to high school apprentice to a cabinet maker becomes a turner however he continues to study drama and he was actually in one of the first units that is the black brigade that were organized to defend cincinnati after the 30 august 1862 battle of richmond and kentucky and so then all of a sudden uh he will be able to join uh company g as first sergeant for the fifth uscts a highly literate man um and uh so during the battle of new market heights not only you know eight officers and 68 infantry soldiers are killed or wounded and baby when he sees the flags left on the field he goes and rescues the colors and then commanded this company and another attack beatty uh was commendated on the battlefield by butler uh actually uh promoted uh sergeant major and uh he was brevited by butler as a first lieutenant well you know what butler said didn't always get uh very far uh it said that he took command of his company all the officers have been killed or wounded and gallantly led it now the post war believe it or not uh powhatan uh will actually be he wrote a play known as delmar or the scenes of the southland it's about reconstruction where he travels with a very famous actress henrietta vincent davis they do shakespearean productions baby plays king henry vi macbeth igamar the barbarian and of course king lear oh my gosh you know uh and he founded the library and literary club in downtown cincinnati uh he was an excellent and outstanding um individual now um we have uh several others this is actually christian fleetwood's medal of honor now i have to tell you that this is quite an item you know um uh the others that were there such as um uh first sergeant james brandon he took command of his company all the officers being killed or wounded uh he rallied his men um and stayed in the army until september of 1865 and he kind of disappears um not all of the medal of honor serving of course at the battle newmarket heights were african-american there is another individual who served in the assault uh from the uh 24th maine regiment and this thomas bleuker who received his medal of honor in 1865 and he with edgerton are the two um white officers that receive those now i got to tell you um the bravery and this is one of the people that received it with uh edgerton this is alexander kelly uh this is in his older age um and uh i have to say you know edgerton goes on to become personal director of the pennsylvania railroad he's a farmer moves out to oregon dies in 1932 however he is um uh going to just just you know he doesn't get his middle on until 1898 it doesn't say he is a recipient uh on his grave and on his farm in oregon so fleetwood is one of the more interesting individuals in all this if i can find him i'll be happy and there he is christian fleetwood you know uh he he was uh uh born free he was literate uh he actually went to liberia um he studied at the maryland state colonization society um he is going to be sergeant major of the fourth usct uh he's on the left flank during the battle he along with alfred b hilton uh we're there hilton is actually bearing two flags never let them touch the ground and when hilton is again wounded fleetwood and another usct member charles veal each grabbed the flag from him and so that it would not touch the ground forced to retreat fleetwood uses the flag to rally the men his commendation says seize the colors after two color bearers had been shot down and bore them nobly through the fight he also received what was known as we're gonna go back to all these people the butler medal and let me tell you the butler medal um was created by ben butler himself because he said there's too many men that did conspicuous actions to this battle that are not being uh accommodated and so consequently um butler himself right i had the fullest reports made to me of the acts of individual bravery of colored men on that occasion and i've done for the negro soldiers what the government had never done for its white soldiers i had a metal structure of like size and weight quality fabrication intrinsic value with those medals that queen victoria awarded the enlisted men serving with valor during the crimean war and i record with pride that in that single action there were so many deserving there were 199 of these medals produced it depicts on the front um the african-american soldiers marching forward against those earthworks are supposed to be new market heights um and on the obverse it says freedom will be theirs by the sword oh my gosh red white and blue ribbon um and [Music] i have to tell you um christian fleetwood goes on to actually marry a great granddaughter of vice president aaron burr and he forms the washington cadet corps part of the dc national guard he offers to raise a regiment during the spanish american war but is refused um another one of my favorites is going to be this man well i think they're all so brave i can't go beyond this is james daniel gardner let me tell you he rushed in front of the dancers brigade shot a rebel officer uh who on the parapet rallying his men and then ran him through with his bayonet wow you know and this appears on the flag of the 22nd usct he is going to unfortunately he does not do well in the army afterwards he will be promoted to sergeant then demoted to private and actually he um is from yorktown virginia and comes back to virginia and he will participate in the building of the first african-american resort in the south bay shore at buckaroo beach virginia and uh we heard the story kelly this is um milton holland uh who milton holland actually um is um uh called on his records in lotto his he actually knew who his father was um and uh um his father was actually um a sl a slave owner known as bird holland who was actually killed at the battle of mansfield and his mother was enslaved uh her name was matilda he took command of company c after all the officer has been killed or wounded and gallantly led it he is buried at arlington cemetery there are three others of these medal of honor recipients buried at arlington cemetery actually um you know i have to say there are another three buried in the hampton um cemetery hampton national cemetery here on the peninsula and you know actually there is going to be a monument created here [Music] in hampton roads um that is in west point cemetery and it he was organized by william fuller he was the first black norfolk council member and it is of william carney who was a norfolk native however there are eight natives of the hampton roads region that are represented by that you know william carney has said that he received the first medal of honor and that's for the action at fort wagner or battery wagner in 1863 but he actually did not receive it until 1896. so the stories of these men um just make you feel as if um this is a norfolk uh regime norfolk native um and uh once again he received the butler medal he received the uh and you can see in civilian this is a veteran address because you see his union buttons uh but you can see a gar medal the butler medal and the medal of honor oh it is so significant what does this all mean i have to say that in the words of sergeant major christian fleetwood he remembered that his black fellow blacks fought so well because they felt intensely the need to prove their bravery to the world they stood in the full glare of the greatest searchlight part and parcel the grandest army mustered in this continent with the bravest and the best and losing nothing in comparison as frederick douglass said you put on that blue uniform that buckle with the u.s give uh that black man a musket and he will prove he is worthy of freedom so that is my take on the battle of new market heights i didn't mention all of the medal of honor recipients i'll do so in a blog one of these days it is truly an amazing story many of the citations are very similar saved the colors led their men but i i do think that as we look through these men we recognize that they were fighting the freedom of their race and that's exactly what they do with great bravery that uh in fact ben butler is credited that that was his best battle but anyway um uh i hope you enjoyed the program um you can of course send me an email if you have any questions etc we have future programs coming up and i have started doing live lectures here at the museum on fridays um and it's more of a discussion group so anyway i'll have another couple of lectures next month so if you have any questions please ask away john we have lots of questions um before we get into questions though the your next virtual lecture is october 8th virtually like this one today about the uss cumberland the power of iron wood my favorite story yes and october 15th we do have limited availability to come see john in person if you're near the museum at noon about the kentucky campaign and you can sign up for both of these on the website but we do have lots of questions and we might have to copy them and get get you to answer them directly john since we're running a little short on time but we're going to start with a few of them and we will get back with nils particularly has lots of questions that hopefully you can answer him later first first off why do you think benjamin butler fared much better in the battle of new market heights than in other military campaigns um i think because number one it was a ruse uh you know the fifth offensive strike at the western part of the confederate lines strike at the eastern part of the confederate lines and so it put pressure on the confederate lines um and he had a message to prove and he had great subordinates william bernie edward ord and so and plus he had these soldiers that were determined to prove that they were as brave and as gallant and with the same ability to fight as anyone so after the crater debacle they had lots to prove and butler recognized that motivated them and in part did a great job he did not capture richmond but when you compare this to butler at big bethel butler at cape hatteras butler at fort fisher this is his best action judith asked were the benefits of being a medal of honor recipient given to these men and their families retroactively posthumously to the time that they should have been awarded no um in fact receiving a medal of honor during the civil war and indian wars did not mean you got a pension for life uh you know it was um uh it was not like today um where medal of honor recipients uh um you know receive a pension and so forth um what the medal of honor meant during the civil war was that these men stood up in part and parcel and the glare the searchlight and proved that they were soldiers beyond compare and did such heroic actions that we still marvel at them today which civil war battles had the most medals of honor awarded let me do my count i think it's either fort fisher or mobile bay believe it or not this one is on the top five for sure um uh mobile day one ship had nine awards awarded the brooklyn so uh because it was you know very heroic at uh the attack on fort fisher without a doubt there were numerous men no african americans at fort fisher however well yes one uh thomas um thomas english who was on board the uss new ironsides uh receive he was the highest-ranking naval african-american he was signal quartermaster so so yes uh uh there are a couple battles where it's like butler sent out 24 just at the battle of newmarket heights so you just imagine it's like parcel and candy and stuff but it was significant because those men that received that were to be very nerdy i think i read that and i may be wrong that there were 30 of those um butler medals minted i think i read no no there's a 199 if you want to see one you can see one at the virginia war museum which is right down the street from uh the uh the mariners museum i used to work there for 30 years before i worked at the mariners so uh and i actually acquired that from a very famous collector known as norm flairman and so that was a a tremendous object uh and is still on display i think um i think so um thaddeus and mike are two of your young fans that were with us last friday john in person do you have a favorite officer in this battle and why well um i think charles payne does an excellent job i think both milton holland and christian fleetwood who were you know one they wanted to make them commissioned officers and then couldn't um you know i i do think uh um the confederates got flat-footed i am a fan of butler because of his political actions but i'd like to point to newmarket heights is where he was the most competent i i got a whole lecture on ben butler which i'll give one day um but i think alonzo draper um i think uh charles payne edward ord william bernie they all uh and william bernie's brother david bernie is going to be killed and the capture of part of fort harrison if you go to fort harrison you can see the federals capture just part of the fort and the rest of the fort is held by the confederates so it's like it just it's almost unbelievable so i think all the officers and especially some of the enlisted men their their records are amazing what's your thought on lee's letter to confederate mississippi congressman ethel bert barksdale stating with reference to the employment of negros's soldiers i think the measure not only expedient but necessary the negro will make an efficient soldier it would be neither just nor wise in my opinion to require them to serve as slaves well i think um the writings on the wall for the confederacy actually a couple other confederate officers patrick clayburn actually recommended that in 1864. there were two units organized but they really didn't see much action there are quite a few in the confederate navy that actually fight all the way to durham station fight all the way to appomattox courthouse and so you really um and and so you can go through the records of every ship and identify these african-americans uh just because they had dark hair dark eyes and dark complexion doesn't mean they're african-american um and that's something people have that problem with and so what we do know is mostly on these muster roles they will say negro colored um mulatto so forth um and uh they will actually no slave or free man there are some confederate officers that enlisted their enslaved people into a regiment so they'd be their servants well you know they cook and that sort of stuff but the big thing is is that that officer got paid for the enslaved person's wages uh or soldiers pay as well as his own so it's a complex story there are many books out there that have tried to really delve into african-americans in the confederacy um and as well as just african-americans during the entire war um i have uh focused mostly uh on those on the monitor actually um and uh i got interested in new market heights because while they was trying to preserve it i actually wrote a report for the park service about the battle and so it kind of stuck with me so but there that's this topic there's more to be said about it and more research needs to be done especially those black tars in the confederate navy why did butler not use cannon against the heights at the battle well so the this is called element of surprise okay we want to hit their running and really catch them flat-footed so that they don't are able to bring reinforcements they can't do this they can't do that and if we're able to do that without cat muskets and so forth we may win a victory unfortunately soldiers moving through the woods all the birds and the squirrels start running the other direction it's like that at chancellors it was probably the best story uh there is uh the 11th corps was out near wilderness church and they were all german right immigrants and so they reported uh to oh howard you know there are confederates out there there are all these birds and deer running into our camp because you dumb dutch you know you don't know what you're talking about and then jackson attacked and you know the federals were soundly defeated and you've written blogs about mobile bay and um fort fisher john so um much much more information of yours is on our blog and i also wrote one of african-american medal of honor recipients in the navy so we could you can find that and there's lots more to learn there um we'll we'll have to wrap it up here because of of respecting your time but um we are going to contact anyone that we can get here in the questions for john to answer directly back the final question i think is interesting did butler have an awards ceremony for these medals if so where and when uh um he uh used uh the same uh a ceremony that was done at uh april six eighteen sixty uh two um and so that's on the he's no longer in command he had been removed from command of the army of the james replaced by alfred terry so it was a separate ceremony he was not there um but he did have his medal and and in that quote i gave you he actually laments my former troops those that i led to glory i mean it's like okay ben you know enough of that so uh yeah i mean they were awarded all on the same day so yes um it was uh symbolic um and uh the butler medals are very very rare um and so are those awarded to there is one that was never picked up um because the man deserted and that was a man in the navy so well oh well you know and and they were crafted by tiffany which is the butler medals yes they were the butlers yes i wore tiffany watched today just in honor of that very good very good um and john would you advance to the last slide please so we can give people that contact info that is that are new to us and again i i will try my utmost to get uh pow tan baby's slide properly credited and also get your questions to john um that we were able to capture but thank you all so much for another great lunch time being with you and we look forward to your being with us next time and hopefully if you're in the area come to our in person if you sign up first online and thank you john as always and leon for your your help great weekend and we will see you soon thank you you