Gettysburg Hero Alonzo Cushing Awarded the Medal of Honor

Oct 07 , 2025

Gettysburg Hero Alonzo Cushing Awarded the Medal of Honor

Alonzo Cushing stood amid chaos and death, clutching his shattered cannon’s wheel. Blood washed over his uniform as bullets sliced the air, smoke stinging his eyes. His left arm torn open, his thigh pierced by enemy fire—and still, he ordered the guns forward. The artillery did not silence. Not while he drew breath.

In the darkest hours of July 3, 1863, at Gettysburg, Cushing held the line.

Born of Duty, Raised in Faith

Alonzo’s roots dug deep into American soil and pious conviction. Born in Delafield, Wisconsin, in 1841, to a family shaped by service and belief, his father a colonel and his mother a steadfast Christian influence. Discipline and devotion carved his path. West Point refined him, molding a young man who would carry both musket and ministry on his lips.

His faith wasn’t window dressing. It was the iron spine that held him firm beneath hell’s thunder. Letters reveal a man “strengthened by the grace of God,” committed not just to country but to a clear moral reckoning in war and life. The Book of Isaiah whispered in his heart:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” (Isaiah 43:2)

That promise steeled his resolve.

The Battle That Defined Him

Gettysburg. Three days. Three hellish sunsets of blood and fire. On July 3, the Confederate forces surged like a tidal wave aiming for the Union’s center - Cemetery Ridge. Amid this maelstrom, Captain Cushing commanded Battery A of the 4th U.S. Artillery, perched atop a knoll later christened “Cushing’s Battery” for the fury unleashed there.

Cushing’s guns faced the infamous Pickett’s Charge—a suicidal gambit meant to break Union lines. Under withering fire, the captain’s right arm was shattered early, a mangled ruin useless to him. Still, he refused to yield. Dispatches note him crawling back to his position, steadying with one arm, directing his men to continue firing.

Orders blurred beneath the cacophony—enemy muskets, shrieking shells, screams of the dying. Yet the guns did not cease. “Captain Cushing stayed until the end,” recalled a fellow officer. "He never faltered."

Wounded multiple times, still bleeding out on that hillside, he cradled his position until a sniper’s bullet finally felled him. His last act: keeping the enemy at bay, buying time, buying life for his comrades. He died at 22.

Valor Recognized — A Long-Delayed Honor

The Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously—over 130 years later, in 2014—by President Barack Obama. The heroism was clear, though buried under decades of paperwork and wartime confusion.

“Captain Alonzo Cushing’s heroic actions saved the Union line at Gettysburg,” the citation states, “fighting bravely despite mortal wounds.”

He stands in the annals not just as a soldier but as a symbol—a testament to the grit that refuses to quit, even when the body is broken and the end is near. Brigadier General Winfield S. Hancock, another Gettysburg stalwart, called Cushing “one of the bravest and most patriotic officers I have ever known.”

Legacy of Sacrifice

Cushing’s story is a stark reminder: courage demands everything—and returns far less. Young men like him sealed history with their blood on hallowed fields, their sacrifices the cost of our freedoms. Yet, it’s more than hero worship—it’s an invitation to reckon with what it means to persevere in the face of hopelessness.

Do they leave us cracks or cement us whole? Cushing’s life shouts the answer. Faith and duty wove through his mortal struggle, offering redemption even in death’s shadow. His stand echoes into the present, a call for grit in personal battles and clarity in chaos.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight... and run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1)

This isn’t just history. It is a torch handed from one generation to the next—carried forward by those willing to bear scars for a cause greater than themselves.

As the sun set on Gettysburg that day, it set on an American hero who refused to surrender. Cushing’s legacy remains a blood-soaked lesson etched into the earth: Stand firm. Fight on. Live purpose beyond the flesh.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, “Medal of Honor Recipients: Alonzo Cushing” 2. Michael R. Simmons, Gettysburg’s Dead and Their Families, Savas Beatie (2012) 3. Congressional Medal of Honor Society, “Captain Alonzo H. Cushing Citation” 4. The New York Times, “After 151 Years, Medal of Honor Awarded at Gettysburg” (2014)