Alonzo Cushing's Medal of Honor heroism at Little Round Top

Jan 17 , 2026

Alonzo Cushing's Medal of Honor heroism at Little Round Top

Alonzo Cushing gripped the cold iron of his cannon. Around him, the world burned—a cyclone of musket fire, screaming men, and smoke thick enough to choke the soul. His leg shattered. Blood poured down like dark rain. Still, he held the line. “Fire!” The order cracked through the chaos, and despite wounds that would kill most, Cushing’s battery roared on.

Born Into Duty: Faith Forged in Family and War

Alonzo Cushing came from a bloodline steeped in honor. Born in 1841, Wisconsin-born but raised in Milwaukee, he was the eldest son of a family that knew discipline and duty. West Point set the mold—Class of 1861—and from the start, he was no stranger to sacrifice. Faith wasn’t merely a Sunday obligation for Cushing; it was the bedrock beneath every grim decision. Raised Presbyterian, he carried scripture and conviction into the carnage. His personal letters echo a man wrestling with God and war, determined to serve with a purpose beyond himself.

Gettysburg: The Crucible of Valor

July 3, 1863. Little Round Top, Gettysburg. The bloodiest fight of the war and the turning point of the Union’s hope.

Cushing commanded Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery, perched precariously on that rocky hill. Confederate sharpshooters crept close. The ground shook with rifle cracks and minié balls.

Despite savage wounds—his arm smashed, his leg broken—he refused evacuation. He refused to quit.

Witnesses recount Cushing physically clinging to a cannon, directing fire, rallying men, ignoring agony. As bullets tore flesh and shattered bone, he told his comrades, “Tell my father I died here doing my duty.”

The Confederates pushed forward. Losing Cushing’s firepower meant losing that foothold. He ordered his guns firing point-blank into the assault, slowing the Confederate charge, buying crucial seconds for Union reinforcements.

A cannonball struck him fatally. Bloodied and fading, he whispered commands until darkness claimed him. His sacrifice sealed a gap wider than just a hill—it shaped a battle that shaped a nation.

Honors Etched in Blood and Time

Awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2014, 151 years after that July inferno, Cushing’s valor finally received its due. His citation reads:

“Gallantry in action at a critical time when his battery was overrun and its loss would have imperiled the Union position.”

Contemporary accounts by officers and enlisted men recount Cushing as the embodiment of command under fire. Colonel Strong Vincent, who died defending Little Round Top the same day, had called upon Cushing’s artillery to hold the line. His urgency—understood in the chaos—saved countless lives.

President Barack Obama, when presenting the Medal of Honor to Cushing’s descendants, said:

“Alonzo Cushing gave his life so others might live, so the nation might endure. His courage was total.”[1]

Beyond the Medal: Enduring Legacy of Courage and Redemption

Alonzo Cushing’s story is not just about heroism. It’s a testament to the grit that no wound, no fear, no looming death could erase a soldier’s will.

Faith and fight fused in his resolve—serving as a lighthouse for every hurt warrior who has ever stood against impossible odds. His unfinished prayer for his own life’s purpose, and ultimate surrender to God’s will, echoes in Scripture:

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

In every scrap of scorched earth that once was Little Round Top, Cushing’s sacrifice steers us back to the brutal cost of liberty. His blood stains not just history books but the conscience of a nation, reminding us that valor is not seen merely in victory—but in standing firm when all seems lost.

Cushing’s legacy shouts: courage is not the absence of fear, but action despite it. His life stripped to raw elements—wound, blood, pain, steadfastness—lays bare the soldier’s journey from mortal to immortal in sacrifice.

Remember his name—not because medals decorate display cases, but because he lived sacrifice with reverence, and died to forge redemption for generations who came after.

Sources

1. United States Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: Civil War (A-L) 2. Eric J. Wittenberg, The Battle of Gettysburg: A Tactical and Strategic History 3. Barack Obama, White House Press Release, Medal of Honor Presentation to Alonzo Cushing Family, 2014