On May 22, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered an assault on the Confederate heights at Vicksburg, Mississippi.[1] The plan called for a storming party of volunteers to build a bridge across a moat and plant scaling ladders against the enemy embankment in advance of the main attack.
The volunteers knew the odds were against survival and the mission was called, in 19th-century vernacular, a "forlorn hope". Only single men were accepted as volunteers and even then, twice as many men as needed came forward and were turned away. The assault began in the early morning following a naval bombardment.
The Union soldiers came under enemy fire immediately and were pinned down in the ditch they were to cross. Despite repeated attacks by the main Union body, the men of the forlorn hope were unable to retreat until nightfall. Of the 150 men in the storming party, nearly half were killed. Seventy-nine of the survivors were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Medal of Honor citation
"For gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863.[2][3][4][5]"
37th OVI Veterans Association (1890). History of the 37th Regiment O.V.V.I. Toledo, Ohio: Montgomery & Vrooman. Retrieved December 23, 2012.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Ohio Roster Commission (1887). 37th–53rd Regiments-Infantry. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865. Vol. IV. Akron, OH: The Werner Ptg. and Mfg. Co. p. 842. OCLC181357575.
Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (1968). Edward M Kennedy, Chairman (ed.). Medal of Honor, 1863-1968 : "In the Name of the Congress of the United States". Committee print (United States. Congress), 90th Congress, 2nd session. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1087. OCLC1049691780.
