William Harvey Carney
William Harvey Carney (
March 28,
1842 –
March 20,
1908) was an
American Civil War hero.
Sgt. William H. Carney was the first
African American to be awarded the
Medal of Honor. Sgt. Carney served with the
54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and took part in the
July 18,
1863 assault on
Fort Wagner in
Charleston, South Carolina. He received his
medal for saving the
American flag and planting it on the parapet and holding it while the
troops charged. He was wounded four times, but recognizing the Federal troops had to retreat, under fire, he struggled back across the battlefield, returning the
flag to the Union lines. Before turning over the colors he modestly said, "Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!"
With the primitive
communications of that time, the flag was an important visual contact for troops and many
Civil War medals were awarded for protecting and displaying the flag under fire.
The attack on Fort Wagner is depicted in the
film Glory. Carney's face is shown on the monument to
Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th on the
Boston Common designed by
Augustus Saint Gaudens. In later life, Carney was a postal employee and popular speaker at
patriotic events.
Carney was born a
slave but escaped to
Massachusetts with his
father through the
Underground Railroad. They were able later to buy the rest of the
family out of
slavery. Carney spent his early life as a
sailor.
Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor
May 23,
1900, nearly 40
years later. More than half such awards from the Civil War were presented 20 or more years late.
There is an elementary
school named in his honor in
New Bedford, Massachusetts today.
William Harvey Carney once featured in an episode of the popular TV program
Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
The Sgt. Carney Salute; folding of a flag on a staff in a manner to allow immediate unfurling was developed by California Scoutmaster J.S. Fox at the 1997 Boy Scout National Scout Jamboree after studying the creases and folds of Civil War Regimental Flags.
*
Sergeant Carney's Flag: The True Story of the First Black Medal of Honor Recipient, Home of Heroes.
