Dec 30 , 2025
Alonzo Cushing, Gettysburg Hero Awarded the Medal of Honor
Alonzo Cushing knelt in a hailstorm of bullets and cannon fire. His left hand crushed by a musket ball. Blood pooled beneath him. Still, he refused to fall back. With a grimace carved from pure grit, he kept calling the orders that kept Union guns firing on Longstreet’s Confederate tide. The very fate of Gettysburg balanced on those last defiant rounds.
This wasn’t heroism for glory. This was raw, unyielding sacrifice—a man locked on mission, duty, and faith even as death whispered in his ear.
Beginnings of a Warrior and a Man of Faith
Born June 27, 1841, in Delafield, Wisconsin, Alonzo Cushing came from a family that bred service and discipline. West Point shaped him, graduating in 1861 into a nation torn at the seams. His was a code carved from honor and belief—kill or be killed, but never abandon your post.
Cushing's letters and records reflect a quiet Christian resolve. A sense of divine purpose infused his role. “To serve God and country,” he would have known, was to endure whatever storm came.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13
Despite youth, his soul bore the weight of war’s demands from the start, tempering faith and ferocity into hardened steel.
The Battle That Defined Him
July 3, 1863, the third and cruelest day at Gettysburg. The Union lines crumbled under relentless Confederate assault led by General George Pickett. The artillery pit, where Cushing commanded Battery A of the 4th U.S. Artillery, became ground zero.
Cushing’s battery was on Cemetery Ridge, tasked with breaking waves of rebel infantry. As Confederate guns silenced Union artillery around him, Cushing’s own cannons became a beacon of resistance.
A bullet tore into his shoulder early in the fight. He ignored it. Then a musket ball shattered his left arm. Blood dripped down his face. Still, he refused aid or retreat. He barked orders through a storm of smoke and chaos.
Witnesses described him propped against a cannon, still firing. Mortally wounded but unbending. As his strength faded, he grasped a sword, still directing men to hold the line.
Minutes later, Alonzo Cushing fell. His death was a sacrifice etched in blood and thunder—his courage defied the carnage consuming so many.
Recognition Delayed but Unequivocal
Cushing’s valor did not go unnoticed. Eyewitness reports from fellow officers and soldiers pressed for recognition. Yet, official commendation dragged. The Medal of Honor, America’s highest military accolade, was awarded posthumously over 150 years later—June 23, 2014—after historians and veterans pushed for overdue justice.[^1]
His citation reads:
“For extraordinary heroism on 3 July 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg, while serving with Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery. Despite severe wounds, he remained at his post directing artillery fire, helping repel the enemy assault at great personal cost.”
General Daniel Butterfield, present that day, praised Cushing’s steadfastness:
“Lieutenant Cushing’s sacrifice undoubtedly shortened the struggle on Cemetery Ridge and saved the lives of many.”
The posthumous honor sealed Cushing’s place among the immortal ranks of the resolute who give everything for country and comrades.
Legacy Etched in Steel and Spirit
Alonzo Cushing’s story is not just history. It’s a living testament to steadfastness amid ruin. His sacrifice depth-charges complacency and apathy with the roar of cannon fire and the truth of mortal resolve.
He teaches that valor is not absence of fear or pain—it is obedience to a greater mission, even into the shadow of death. His faith, silently threaded through his last moments, reminds veterans and civilians alike that courage flows from something deeper than muscle and training—it is born of honor, sacrifice, and the hope of redemption.
“He shall wrap me in his pinions, and under his wings you shall trust.” — Psalm 91:4
True warriors face the storm. Alonzo Cushing became the storm—unyielding, resolute, and sacred. His legacy challenges every soul who hears it to stand firm, even when all else falls apart.
We owe him more than memory. We owe him the hard grind of keeping faith alive—in ourselves and one another—amid the scars that war leaves behind.
[^1]: U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: Alonzo Cushing (2014).
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