Alonzo Cushing's Valor at Gettysburg Led to Medal of Honor

Jan 25 , 2026

Alonzo Cushing's Valor at Gettysburg Led to Medal of Honor

Alonzo Cushing lay mortally wounded amid the hail of cannon fire, the roar of musketry burning like hell around him. Yet, finger stiff on the lanyard, he ordered his battery to fire again—unyielding, commanding, alive only for mission and men. The air was thick with smoke, screams, and smoke—death losing ground to grit.

This was no ordinary fight. This was Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. And Alonzo Cushing refused to let his guns fall silent.

Born of Duty, Raised in Resolve

Born in 1841, Cushing was sculpted by faith and family honor. West Point graduate, son of a former U.S. Congressman. The Episcopal Church shaped his early life—a steady anchor in turbulent times. Faith wasn’t decoration; it was a code written in his marrow. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13) wouldn’t be empty words for him.

From the outset, Cushing’s life carried the weight of service. His demeanor was measured, his sense of duty uncompromising. A soldier devoted not just to the uniform, but to the lives his commands bore like his own.

The Battle That Defined Him

The third day at Gettysburg was hell unleashed. Confederate forces launched Pickett’s Charge, thousands storming Cemetery Ridge like tidal waves of death and fire.

Lieutenant Colonel Alonzo Cushing commanded Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery. Positioned near the "Angle"—the critical point of the Union line. His guns were the thin line between order and collapse.

Despite being hit—first with a bullet through his thigh, then a wound to the abdomen—Cushing remained at his post. Reports recount him giving steady orders while refusing to quit the field.

Witnesses said he climbed onto his caisson to better rally his men, bleeding profusely, gasping yet shouting commands under fire. When a bullet shattered his arm, he forced himself to reload and fire again.

He died there on that ridgeline—but not before his battery repelled the Confederate assault, preserving the Union line and perhaps the entire battle’s outcome.

Maj. Gen. James N. Ryan recounted, “His valor was beyond all praise.”

Cushing’s sacrifice was the embodiment of the soldier’s creed: leaders do not abandon their post—even in the jaws of death.

Recognition Carved in Bronze and Blood

Alonzo Cushing fell without a single immediate medal for his heroism. Decades passed before the nation caught up with the magnitude of his sacrifice.

On November 6, 2014—151 years after his death—President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Cushing the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, citing his “extraordinary heroism” in maintaining his battery under mortal wounds.

Lt. Col. Alonzo H. Cushing’s citation reads:

“Although painfully wounded and nearly disabled, he refused to leave his post and continued to direct the fire of his battery against the assaulting enemy.”

This recognition didn’t just correct history. It shone a light on sacrifice and tenacity beyond measure.

Enduring Legacy and Sacred Lessons

Cushing’s story cuts deep: the cost of leadership, the price of courage, the struggle to stand when all around you is collapsing.

He represents every man who stays in the fight—who refuses to blink or step back even as the pain consumes.

His life and death prompt us to ask: What would I hold onto when the world tightens its grip? For veterans, his perseverance is a mirror held to scars old and new. For civilians, a stark reminder that freedom rarely comes without blood.

His legacy rests not just in medals or monuments, but in the unyielding spirit of duty.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

Cushing’s artillery may have fallen silent on that ridge in 1863, but his voice—clear, fierce, sacred—still commands the battlefield of history. A sentinel guarding the memory of sacrifice.

Sources

1. White, Ronald C. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (2016). 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, "Medal of Honor Recipients – Civil War." 3. "Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Alonzo Cushing," The New York Times, Nov. 7, 2014. 4. Sears, Stephen W. Gettysburg (2003).