Dec 11 , 2025

Alonzo Cushing's valor at Gettysburg earned the Medal of Honor

Cannon smoke chokes the Georgia air. The ground shakes with artillery blasts. Five guns in battery, manned by blackened faces and shaking hands. Only one man stands steady. Captain Alonzo Cushing, bleeding, broken, refusing to quit.

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Born to Duty, Bound by Faith

Alonzo Cushing was raised on a battlefield of conviction—West Point born, bred into a life of discipline and sacrifice. The son of a Union artillery officer, he carried that weight like armor, heavy but necessary. His faith was quiet but unyielding, rooted deep in scripture and the soldier’s code.

A man who understood the sword and the cross. More than just orders, his life threaded with purpose: to serve, to protect, to hold the line no matter the cost.

He prayed for strength. That prayer came gruff, but steady, a whispered promise on the cusp of carnage:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

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The Battle That Defined Him

July 3, 1863. The third and final day at Gettysburg. The Union lines braced for what would become Pickett’s Charge—a brutal test of will and firepower.

Cushing commanded the fiercely contested Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery. With Confederate forces advancing across the open fields of Cemetery Ridge, his guns were the shield holding the Union heart.

Wounded early in the fight—his leg shattered by a musket ball and multiple other injuries staking his body like a battlefield map—he refused evacuation. Alone among the falling men, he directed cannon fire, perched on his stomach behind his guns, shouting orders over the roar.

He ordered his men to keep firing while Confederate troops scaled their battery. Even as his blood painted the earth, his voice never faltered. His last act was pulling a pistol and engaging in hand-to-hand combat—death crawling close, but so was victory.

When the smoke cleared, the charge had broken.

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Valor Recognized—But Too Late

Cushing’s name was lost to the war’s immediate chronicles. He died on the field, age twenty-two.

Decades passed. His heroism buried like those silent graves at Gettysburg. Only late in the 20th century did the Army revisit the records, witness accounts, and acts of valor amassed in forgotten archives.

In 2014, after exhaustive review, Captain Alonzo Cushing was awarded the Medal of Honor—posthumously, more than 150 years later—for “extraordinary heroism” at Gettysburg.[1]

His citation engraved a final testimony: Despite mortal wounds, he maintained his battery's fire until he fell, embodying selfless courage under fire.

General Winfield Scott Hancock, who witnessed the fight, called Cushing’s actions “one of the most heroic things ever done on the field.”[2]

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Blood, Sacrifice, and Redemption

Cushing’s story echoes far past Gettysburg’s fields.

A man doesn’t earn a medal by chance. It’s the product of grit, love for his country, and trust in something greater than himself.

His legacy isn’t just the sound of cannon fire or a name on a plaque. It’s in every soldier who endures pain and fear, who refuses the easy way out.

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

Captain Alonzo Cushing’s sacrifice demands we remember the cost of freedom. Honor is earned in the mud and blood, shaped by scars invisible and deep.

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His story is a beacon.

A call to those who wear the uniform and those who watch from home. Courage isn’t born in victory alone. It grows in the moments when all hope seems lost—but a man stands firm. Not for glory. But for the brother beside him—the cause he believes in—and a future only sacrifice can secure.

This is the lineage of warriors who fight silent battles within and without—the living testament that valor lasts long after the guns fall silent.

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Sources:

[1] U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients – Civil War [2] William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (1889)

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