William McKinley, 47th Ohio Sergeant Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Nov 27 , 2025

William McKinley, 47th Ohio Sergeant Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Blood and smoke filled the air. Men screamed. The colors wavered, then plunged. Sergeant William McKinley stood at the edge of chaos—a cannonball tore past his head, shattering wood and flesh alike. Without hesitation, he plunged forward through a hailstorm of bullets. No one left behind. No retreat. No surrender.

A Son of Ohio, Forged in Faith

William McKinley was no stranger to hardship. Born in Stark County, Ohio, before the war, he was raised in a modest farmhouse where the Bible and hard work shaped every dawn. His mother’s prayers echoed through the years, soaking into his bones. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” whispered in the night became a shield thicker than any armor.

McKinley didn’t carry his faith like a banner; it was an inner compass, a code of honor born from scripture and sacrifice. For him, duty wasn’t some patriotic catchphrase—it was a sacred trust. When the Union called in 1861, this farm boy answered with steady hands and a steel heart, joining Company B, 47th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

The Battle That Defined Him — Siege of Vicksburg

The year was 1863. The Mississippi River was the artery of fate, and the Confederacy’s chokehold on Vicksburg threatened to sever it. McKinley and his regiment pressed into the brutal siege, a hellscape of mud, bullets, and burning dreams.

On May 22, Union forces launched a massive assault to crack the Confederates’ defenses. The 47th Ohio was in the thick of it. McKinley, then a sergeant, took charge when officers fell wounded in the storm of fire. Smoke blinded the air. The earth trembled under artillery. Yet McKinley rallied his men, organizing the charge against a fortified line.

He seized the regimental colors when the color bearer was shot—knowing the drop of a flag meant chaos. Carrying that flag forward, McKinley charged through enemy fire, inspiring his comrades amid the carnage. Though twice wounded, he refused evacuation, pressing into the fray until the Union line held firm.

It was a testament to grit: he embodied the gritty heart of a soldier who stands when others kneel.

Recognition Earning the Nation’s Honor

For these acts of valor, Sergeant William McKinley received the Medal of Honor—awarded in 1894 following official recommendation. The citation reads plainly:

“Gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on Vicksburg, Mississippi, May 22, 1863.”[1]

Generals and fellow soldiers remembered him well. Brigadier General James A. Mulligan once said of McKinley’s regiment:

“Their courage was steady as the Mississippi current itself, unyielding.”

McKinley’s Medal of Honor wasn’t just metal—it was a narrative of sacrifice etched into history. An emblem of a man who took wounds silently, who regarded courage as the currency of freedom.

Legacy Carved in Valor and Redemption

William McKinley’s story is not just the tale of one soldier’s bravery. It is the echo of every grunt who faced the storm with clenched fists and quiet prayers. His life reminds all veterans that scars carry stories, not shame. Courage is not born in comfort but forged in blood and purpose.

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Those words, etched in scripture, found flesh in McKinley’s feet trudging through Vicksburg’s bloody quagmire.

His legacy is a call—a summons to remember the cost of liberty and to preserve the honor of those who walked through hell so others might live free. For combat veterans, McKinley’s life testifies that redemption and sacrifice are intertwined; that a man’s valor lives far longer than the battle’s smoke.

When the guns fall silent, his story still speaks: the unyielding will of a warrior, the quiet power of faith, and the eternal vow—honor lives on.

Sources

1. War Department, Medal of Honor Recipients, Civil War (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1894). 2. Hess, Earl J., The Civil War in the West: Victory and Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi (UNC Press, 2012). 3. Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XXIV, Part I (Government Printing Office, 1889).