Bearing a flag into gunfire
Whether it was in battles at Antietam or Vicksburg, Gettysburg or Shiloh, flag-bearers were a main target of enemy fire during the Civil War. Killing one of them spread confusion and panic in troops because they had lost their guide into battle – and their route to retreat.
February, Black History Month, is good time to remember a flag-bearer named Andrew Jackson Smith, a slave who fled from his owner and made his way to Boston to join the 55th Massachusetts Colored Infantry.
In 1864, the unit was involved in the Battle of Honey Hill in South Carolina. As recounted years later by Smith, “I had been placed in the color guard….We had nearly reached the muzzles of the guns when [the color sergeant] was killed. I caught him with one hand and the flag with the other when he staggered back.”
“For God’ sake, Smith, save the flag!” called his commander, and Smith did just that, bearing the regimental flag throughout the remainder of the bloody fighting. When another member of the color guard was wounded, Smith grabbed the state flag from his hands and bore both staffs off the battlefield.
For his action, Smith would be awarded a Medal of Honor. The citation told of how he bore the flags “through heavy grape and canister fire. Although half of the officers and a third of the enlisted men…were killed or wounded, Corporal Smith continued to expose himself to enemy fire by carrying the colors throughout the battle. Through his actions, [the flag was] not lost to the enemy.”
The medal citation also noted that “Smith’s extraordinary valor in the face of deadly enemy fire is in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon him” as well as his regiment and the Army.
Receiving that high award is quite an achievement for a soldier, but Smith never knew about it. He was not nominated for the medal until 1916. He died in 1932, and the Medal of Honor was not approved until 2001. It was presented to Smith’s daughter, who was 93.
Decades had to pass for Smith to be recognized for his gallant actions with a flag amid shot and shell 150 years ago.