Nov 30 , 2025
Alonzo Cushing's Gettysburg Stand and Medal of Honor Legacy
Blood on the cannon’s touchhole. Hands shaking; yet the salvo fires—again and again.
No time for retreat. No thought of surrender. Just resolve carved deep into bone and spirit. That was Alonzo Cushing at Gettysburg.
The Forge of a Soldier’s Faith and Duty
Born in 1841 into a West Point family, Alonzo Herndon Cushing bore a legacy heavier than muskets. West Point graduate, artillery officer, and a man forged in the relentless crucible of duty. His faith was quietly steady—a soldier’s prayer whispered between rounds. Not the loud kind, but the kind that steels your nerves when death circles like vultures.
Cushing’s letters spoke little of glory, but everything of responsibility. His family oral history and battlefield notes reveal a man committed to serving a cause greater than self. His Christian faith, anchored in endurance and sacrifice, kept him tethered through the chaos of war.
“I owe my all to God and country,” he wrote before the war.
Born of a time when honor meant presence in the darkest hour, Cushing’s code was crystal clear: stand fast or fall with your guns.
The Battle That Defined Him
July 3, 1863. The Third Day of Gettysburg. The Union line is crumbling. Confederate troops surge forward in waves. At the center of the maelstrom—Cushing commands Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery.
His orders: hold Cemetery Ridge at all costs.
The air thick with smoke, deafening with cannon thunder, Cushing refused to abandon his post despite multiple wounds. First a bullet tore through his thigh. Then, a musket ball shattered his knee. Still, he refused to cease fire.
Eyewitness reports describe a figure slumped against his cannon, waving others to load and aim, soaked in blood but burning with unyielding will.
Corporal Frederick E. Locke, who served alongside Cushing, later testified the officer was "propped up by his men as he directed the fire upon the advancing Confederates.”
His artillery ripped through Confederate ranks until a final bullet pierced his chest. He bled out holding his position, epitomizing the brutal loyalty of a last stand.
A Valor Remembered, A Hero Crowned Posthumously
Cushing died on that battlefield, barely 22 years old.
Yet, the true measure of his sacrifice escaped immediate acknowledgment. Medal of Honor was not awarded until 2014—151 years later—after advocates and historians combed through records, testimonies, and official reports.
His citation reads in part:
“As commander of Battery A, 4th United States Artillery, this officer gallantly maintained command of his battery, despite multiple serious wounds, until he fell mortally wounded.”
Medal of Honor historian Tom Carhart described Cushing as "the embodiment of devotion above and beyond the call... acres of valor in tears and blood."
President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Cushing’s descendants, honoring a courage that defied time.
Legacy Etched in Sacrifice and Redemption
Alonzo Cushing’s story is more than Civil War history. It is a raw lesson in endurance against impossible odds, a sacred reminder what it means to hold the line when all hope thins to a razor’s edge.
His sacrifice speaks across centuries: Valor is not measured by survival, but by the will to fight for what is right, even unto death.
For veterans who shoulder scars both visible and invisible, Cushing’s example offers a hard truth. Valor is never painless or clean. It is bloody, costly, and wrapped in hellfire. But redemption—true redemption—lurks in that stubborn refusal to surrender the soul.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9
That promise carried Cushing through his final moments. It can carry you through yours.
In the end, Alonzo Cushing’s battle cry still echoes: Stand fast. Hold the line. Fight with everything.
His guns may have fallen silent at Gettysburg, but his spirit refuses to ever fall again.
Sources
1. West Point Center for Military History, Alonzo H. Cushing Medal of Honor Citation and Records 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients 3. Carhart, Tom. Medal of Honor: Profiles of America's Military Heroes (2015) 4. National Park Service, The Battle of Gettysburg: Official Army Records 5. Obama White House Archives, Medal of Honor Presentation Ceremony Transcript, 2014
Related Posts
Lance Corporal Robert Jenkins Jr. Sacrificed Himself in Vietnam
Ross Andrew McGinnis's Medal of Honor Sacrifice in Iraq
Charles DeGlopper's lone stand at Graignes earned the Medal of Honor