William H. Carney, first African American Medal of Honor recipient

Nov 11 , 2025

William H. Carney, first African American Medal of Honor recipient

William H. Carney grasped the tattered colors as bullets screamed past his ears. Blood blurred his vision. Every muscle screamed to drop the flag—a symbol heavier than cloth, heavier than life itself. Refusing defeat, Carney pressed on through the smoke of Fort Wagner, knowing the eyes of every black soldier burned into that banner’s thread. “The flag never touched the ground,” he’d say, bleeding but unbroken.

The Battle That Defined Him

July 18, 1863. Fort Wagner, South Carolina. One of the Civil War's deadliest crucibles. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment—one of the first African American units—moved under fire that chewed men’s bones and hearts alike.

Carney was a sergeant, holding the regiment’s colors. When the flag bearer fell under a hail of lead, Carney seized the standard and surged forward, wounded by a rifle bullet in the hand. Half-mad with pain, he shielded the flag from the bloodied earth as men around him dropped or broke ranks.

He suffered wounds again—two saber cuts, a bayonet gash—and could have collapsed. But the flag called him forward. He fought until the regiment withdrew, then carried that flag back to Union lines alone, unyielding.

A Life Forged in Faith and Honor

Born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1840, William H. Carney’s journey to war was a path of quiet resistance and relentless belief.

Escape from bondage and the hard fight for freedom kindled a solemn code in him—a soldier’s creed stitched with faith. “God is my shield,” he reportedly believed, walking into the hellfire of war with a conviction that transcended color and circumstance.

His motto wasn’t glory. It was duty. To those brothers around him. To the banner that meant their sacrifice.

Recognition in the Face of Prejudice

Carney’s Medal of Honor citation was issued in 1900—decades after the war ended. He was the first African American awarded, answering silence with the pure grit of valor.

The citation reads in part:

“When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, and, in the face of the advancing enemy, bore it to the inner line.”[1]

Officers and fellow soldiers recognized his sacrifice. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts who fell that day, had called the regiment—“the bravest and best.” Carney’s actions proved that, bloodied but proud.

He carried that honor quietly in post-war life, challenging a country still shackled by color lines.

The Legacy of a Flag Bearer

William Carney’s story is carved into the story of a nation’s struggle—not just for land, but for the soul of justice.

His courage tested the lie that bravery had a color code. Society tried to overlook men like him, but history could not erase his footsteps in the sand. Today, Carney stands as a monument to sacrifice and dignity—a reminder that valor demands recognition, and that redemption often rides on battered shoulders.

This nation’s wounded warriors—then and now—carry their flags through fire. Not for glory, but for honor, for brothers beside them, and for the hope of a land enduring God’s promise:

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

William Carney bled for a flag that told a fuller truth of America—one forged in blood and faith, scarred but not broken. His footsteps echo still, urging us never to let the colors fall.

Sources

1. Medal of Honor citation, William H. Carney | Congressional Medal of Honor Society 2. National Park Service, The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment 3. Dyer, Frederick H., A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908) 4. Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870-1898, Charles W. Hanna