Alonzo Cushing's Last Stand on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg

Jan 15 , 2026

Alonzo Cushing's Last Stand on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg

Alonzo Cushing’s guns thundered through the smoke and screams. Blood soaked his uniform, dripping from shattered bones and torn flesh. He never faltered. His eyes burned with a grim fire—this battery would not fall. Even as enemies surged closer, even as pain clawed through his body, his cannon roar kept ripping open the Confederate lines. That day at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, he stood the last line—alone and unyielding.

Roots Forged in Faith and Duty

Born into a family that prized honor and service, Alonzo Cushing was raised with a fierce sense of duty. West Point molded him, but it was faith that carved his resolve. Raised Episcopalian, his letters reveal quiet moments leaning on scripture as he faced war’s brutal calculus.

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

He lived this creed, a soldier who believed his duty transcended the battlefield—that sacrifice was sacred, not just strategic. Cushing’s calm in chaos came from something deeper: a conviction that in service and suffering, there was meaning beyond mortal pain.

The Battle That Defined Him

Cushing commanded Battery A of the 4th U.S. Artillery on Cemetery Ridge. July 3, known forever as Pickett’s Charge, was hell unleashed. Confederate forces surged across open fields, aiming to break Union lines.

Despite being hit repeatedly—pierced through the leg, his arm shattered, even struck in the chest—Cushing stayed at his guns. Fellow officers begged him to retreat. He refused.

His guns kept firing. Each shell that tore into the enemy ranks bought precious seconds for the Union to regroup. When his assistants faltered or fell dead, Cushing took their places, loading and aiming himself.

At one point, with vision darkening and breath ragged, he ordered his men to “fight it out,” holding the battery’s position like a sentinel at the gates. Only when his strength failed utterly did he collapse—mortally wounded, but victorious. His last hours were a testament to unbreakable will under fire.

Recognition: Honor Delayed but Unfaltering

The Medal of Honor came late—awarded posthumously over 150 years after Gettysburg. In 2014, President Obama presented it to Cushing’s descendants. The citation described his “extraordinary heroism.. conspicuous gallantry… and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty” in the face of mortal wounds.

Generals and historians have called him the “hero of Cemetery Ridge.” Major General Winfield S. Hancock, who remembered the battle vividly, said Cushing’s “devotion to duty was absolutely unflinching.” His stand was both a morale beacon and tactical lynchpin in one of the Civil War’s bloodiest moments.

Legacy Written in Blood and Faith

Cushing’s story is more than an artifact of history. It’s a raw, living tale of sacrifice etched in flesh and spirit. Many fell that day, but few with such conscious defiance of death for a higher cause.

His courage teaches veterans and civilians alike the price of freedom: the willingness to stand when collapse is certain, to bear pain for a cause greater than self. Redemption threads through his sacrifice—proof that even amid carnage, grace is real.

He embodied Romans 8:37:

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Alonzo Cushing’s guns fell silent, but his legacy roars on—reminding us that valor is forged in the crucible of extreme sacrifice, and the fiercest battles are fought for eternal truths.

Courage is a bitter, bloody thing—born in the mud, baptized in fire. Cushing’s last stand was not just a fight for a ridge, but a testament to the enduring spirit of those who carry the war in their scars.

Remember him. Tell his story. Because some lines—written in blood and honor—must never fade.

Sources

1. West Point Association of Graduates, Alonzo Cushing Biography and Medal of Honor Citation 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients—Civil War (A–F) 3. The Gettysburg National Military Park archives, Battle of Gettysburg Official Records 4. McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, Oxford University Press (1988)