Alonzo Cushing’s Last Shot at Gettysburg and His Sacrifice

Jan 28 , 2026

Alonzo Cushing’s Last Shot at Gettysburg and His Sacrifice

The smoke chokes the air. Cannon fire rips earth apart. Amid the chaos, one man stands steady—blood spilling from his shattered chest, fingers trembling but never releasing the lanyard that fires the guns. Alonzo Cushing’s heart pounds its last. His guns roar through the night. No surrender. No retreat. No silence.

Background & Faith

Born into an age of honor and harsh expectations, Alonzo Hereford Cushing carried the weight of a family legacy heavy as his brass artillery. West Point molded him, but faith carried him. Raised in Wisconsin within a devout Episcopalian household, Cushing believed duty was not just to country, but to God—a calling ironclad and inescapable.

“He was a deeply religious man with a strong sense of divine purpose,” wrote historian Peter Cozzens, anchoring the boy’s courage in scripture and conviction[1]. The battlefield for Cushing was a crucible where earth and heaven collided. The warrior’s code was clear: stand fast, fight hard, and bear witness to sacrifice.

The Battle That Defined Him

July 3, 1863. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The third day. Pickett’s Charge rolled like thunder across the fields, but the artillery line commanded by Captain Cushing was the thin cordon between the Union and a shattered republic.

Positioned at the apex of Cemetery Ridge, Cushing directed three batteries as Confederate troops surged. His orders were precise. No hesitation. No mercy. Every second counted. His vision blurred as shrapnel tore through flesh and bone, shattering his right arm. Pain, staggering enough to break any man, wrenched him to the ground. But he gripped the lanyard with a broken hand and fired his guns until he was struck down for the final time.

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock later stated, “Captain Cushing did his duty with the utmost courage and coolness.” His last act was not panic or plea, but persistence. That selfless stand helped repulse Pickett's Charge and turned the tide at Gettysburg.

Recognition

Cushing’s heroism went quiet for over a century. It was only in 2014, over 150 years later, that President Barack Obama awarded Alonzo Cushing the Medal of Honor posthumously[2]. The citation reads:

“For extraordinary heroism on 3 July 1863, near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Captain Cushing maintained his battery under terrible fire despite mortal wounds.”

Medal clipped onto his memory, but the medal was not the greatest acknowledgment. It was the stories told by men who fought beside him. Like 1st Lieutenant Horace Porter, who bore witness:

“He directed the guns, encouraging the men; his calmness inspired stubbornness.”

What remains is a testament to the raw edge of valor—the sacrifice that leaves scars beyond skin, beyond years, beyond memory.

Legacy & Lessons

Alonzo Cushing’s story thrums with the pulse of sacred courage and the cost of duty.

His scars—both seen and unseen—were instruments of redemption for a fractured nation. His stand was a quiet prayer, “Not my will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42). The soldier who fired the final cannon shot at Gettysburg teaches us that heroism is not the absence of fear or pain, but the refusal to bow to either.

Veterans, survivors, and civilians alike find in Cushing’s grim sacrifice a mirror: courage blends with faith, and honor demands a price. His legacy is a solemn call to hold the line—no matter the wounds, no matter the darkness.

Remember this: some fight so that others may live in peace. Cushing’s roar still echoes across the hills of Pennsylvania, a ghostly lullaby of sacrifice and salvation.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." — John 15:13

Sources

[1] Peter Cozzens, This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga (1992) – contextualizing Cushing’s religious conviction [2] U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: Civil War (A–L), 2014 Citation for Alonzo Cushing