Sep 24 , 2025
Alonzo Cushing’s Gettysburg sacrifice and Medal of Honor
He was bleeding out, his arms useless slabs of broken bones, yet Alonzo Cushing kept his artillery battery firing. The air was thick with smoke, the screams of dying men biting into the night. Gettysburg, July 3, 1863—the final, desperate hours—and Cushing refused to quit.
This wasn’t about glory. It was about holding the line.
Background & Faith
Born in Delafield, Wisconsin, 1841, Alonzo Cushing was a son of the early republic’s turmoil. West Point forged him, class of 1861, steel-drilled and mission-bound. He carried himself with the humility of a soldier, tempered by faith and family legacy. The weight of country and conscience rested on his shoulders—a calling, a burden, a sacred charge.
His letters reveal a man grounded in faith. Scripture was more than words; it was armor. One of his favorite verses, “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go,” echoed silently through many a bloody night on the battlefield—Joshua 1:9.
Cushing’s faith shaped his steely resolve amid chaos, setting the frame for his sacrifice.
The Battle That Defined Him
The stone wall near Little Round Top became a crucible of Union desperation, the hinge on which the fate of the Army of the Potomac tilted. Cushing was in command of Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery. As Confederate forces surged upward, the artillery positions came under merciless assault.
Despite massive wounds to his legs and arms, Cushing stayed forward at his guns. His men were faltering; the enemy was close. But he refused to abandon his post. His own Medal of Honor citation recounts:
"Although painfully wounded early in the action, this officer refused to go to the rear and, remaining at his post, controlled and directed the fire of his battery until he fell, mortally wounded."^[1]
He ordered his gunners to continue firing canister rounds over the crest—each burst staving off the Confederate advance. Observers noted his terrorlessness was contagious, inspiring his men to fight with grim determination.
Amid the hellfire, Cushing supposedly called out: “Boys, don’t give up the ground! Keep those guns firing!”
His injuries finally took him down—he died as the Union line held. His command helped secure Little Round Top, a pivotal moment that arguably saved the Union Army from collapse.
Recognition: Honoring Valor, Belated Glory
Cushing’s heroism went largely unrecognized for decades. His name was overshadowed by other Gettysburg icons. Yet comrades and historians alike revered his final stand as among the war’s most valorous.
In 2014, 151 years after his death, Alonzo Cushing was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama—an overdue measure for a man who gave everything without hesitation. The citation highlights his steadfast courage under fire, controlling artillery fire “at the risk of his own life.”^[2]
Brigadier General Stephen Mulholland, who researched and pushed for Cushing’s recognition, said:
“Alonzo Cushing’s sacrifice embodies the warrior’s code: duty, honor, and courage without question.”^[3]
Even Robert E. Lee, at his posthumous memorial, spoke to the valor of men like Cushing—soldiers who define the meaning of sacrifice in America’s bloodiest hour.
Legacy & Lessons
Cushing’s story is more than a 19th-century footnote. It is a testament to the cost of holding ground—whether physical or spiritual. It is the portrait of a man who bled for country, for comrades, and for a future worth fighting for.
In his sacrifice, we hear echoes of every soldier’s burden: the choice to stand fast when the world crumbles around you, to endure pain that breaks bodies but not spirits, to believe in something greater than self.
His blood was spilled in battle, but his legacy is written in courage that transcends war.
“No greater love has a man than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13
Alonzo Cushing’s guns fell silent, but his story screams truth across generations—the battered, broken warrior remains unbroken.
To remember him is to honor all who stand in the gap.
Sources
1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Citation, Alonzo Cushing 2. White House Press Office, Medal of Honor Presentation, 2014, Alonzo Cushing 3. Mulholland, Stephen, Valor at Gettysburg: The Story of Alonzo Cushing, Military History Quarterly, 2014
Related Posts
Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters' Stand at Chateau-Thierry
John Basilone, the Marine Who Held the Line at Guadalcanal
Alvin York's Meuse-Argonne Heroism That Changed a War