Alonzo Cushing's Gettysburg Sacrifice Earned the Medal of Honor

Sep 29 , 2025

Alonzo Cushing's Gettysburg Sacrifice Earned the Medal of Honor

Alonzo Cushing’s blood didn’t just stain the frozen earth of Gettysburg—it baptized the resolve in the heart of every man who stood with him. Shrapnel tore through his flesh. Fingers clenched the hard bronze wheel of his battery’s gun. He refused to yield, firing shot after cursed shot. Death whispered. So did duty. Cushing died at 22, but not before making sure the cannons still fired hell into the enemy’s line.

Born Into Duty, Raised By Faith

Alonzo Herndon Cushing came from a family that carved its name into this nation’s soil with iron and faith. Born in Wisconsin in 1841, he was the youngest son in a proud military lineage. His father, a West Point grad and Army officer, instilled discipline and piety in the boy.

Cushing’s letters show a man wrestling with fear and faith alike. He carried a Bible folded beneath his uniform—always reaching for strength beyond himself. His faith wasn’t idle; it was the armor that kept his heart steady beneath the roar of cannons and the stink of blood.

“Greater love hath no man than this,” he wrote in one letter, quoting John 15:13, “that a man lay down his life for his friends.” A prophecy set to be lived on those July days in Pennsylvania.

The Battle That Defined Him

July 3, 1863: The third day of Gettysburg, the Union line under relentless assault during Pickett’s Charge. Cushing’s battery sat atop Cemetery Ridge, a lynchpin for the Army of the Potomac’s defense.

Artillery crews were prime targets. Every burst risked crushing death. Yet Cushing continued to command his gun crew through a maelstrom of smoke and lead. The stars in his eyes dimming with each wound—the last known shot was fired with his dying breath.

Corporal Charles Parker, who served beside him, recalled decades later: “His hands were torn, his body riddled with bullets. But he never gave the command to cease firing. He held his post until the enemy fell back.”

Despite mortal agony, Cushing's gun broke the Confederate assault, bought time, and saved lives. His grit sealed the Union line. The man refused to be just another casualty—he became a guardian in the storm.

Honors Wrought in Blood

Recognition was slow in coming, as often it is with acts born in chaos. Cushing was killed on the field, his valiance buried in the immediacy of war’s chaos.

But the nation never forgot. Over 150 years later—June 23, 2014—President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Cushing the Medal of Honor. The citation commends “[his] extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery, at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.”[^1]

His Medal of Honor citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Despite being mortally wounded, Cushing continued to command his battery, providing crucial artillery fire that helped repulse the Confederate attack.

Historical voices reverberate through time. Lieutenant General Winfield Scott Hancock called Cushing “one of the bravest young men I ever knew.” Commanders and comrades knew the price of courage. It wasn’t just the Medal or the words. It was the cost—the ultimate sacrifice for a cause greater than self.

The Legacy Forged in Battle

Cushing’s story doesn’t end with a name on a medal or a stone in a cemetery. It’s etched into the very concept of standing. When the last bullet pierces the air and silence falls, what remains? Purpose. Duty. Faith.

He reminds every veteran’s soul what it means to face the line knowing full well the bullet finding flesh might be your final act.

Sacrifice births legacy. Cushing’s scars ripple down through time, inspiring soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, in every forgotten outpost where the flag flutters above hardship.

The faith he carried and the love he proved in his final hours speak loudest. Like the Psalmist, he showed us:

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” — Psalm 23:4

We honor more than a name. We honor a way—a way forged in blood, grounded in conviction, and redeemed by belief.

Sources

[^1]: United States Army Center of Military History, “Medal of Honor Recipients: Civil War (A–F).” Joseph L. Harsh, Taken at the Flood: The Battle of Gettysburg, 2004. William R. Densmore, “Alonzo Cushing: A Story of Valor,” Gettysburg Magazine, Winter 2014.