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Federal (USV)

Private

John Johnson

(1842 - 1907)

Home State: Wisconsin

Command Billet: Soldier

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 2nd Wisconsin Infantry

Before Antietam

He enlisted in Company D, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, from Janesville, Wisconsin on 20 April 1861. He was detached for US Artillery service on 27 November 1861.

On the Campaign

He was serving with Battery B, 4th US Artillery at the Battle:

"John Johnson, detached from Company D, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, won his medal [Medal of Honor] for valor displayed at two engagements. While serving as a cannoneer at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862 he assisted Brigadier General John Gibbon and two others in firing a cannon about to be overrun by the enemy. The double canister at point blank range was critical at turning back the charge and saving the battery."

The rest of the War

"At Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 12, 1862 he again demonstrated his courage. While bringing case shot to his gun a piece of shrapnel severed his right arm, carrying away much of his shoulder. He continued to load his gun until loss of blood caused him to faint." He was dicharged for his wounds on 10 April 1863.

References & notes

Service dates from the Roster1, with additional details from his MOH citation and Deeds of Valor.2

Birth

3/25/1842; Toten Christiana (Oslo), NORWAY

Death

4/3/1907; burial in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, DC

Notes

1   State of Wisconsin, Adjutant General's Office, and Chandler P. Chapman, Adj. Gen., Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, 2 volumes, Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printers, 1886, Vol. 1, pg. 357  [AotW citation 10172]

2   Beyer, Walter F., and Oscar F. Keydel, compilers, Deeds of Valor: How America's Heroes Won the Medal of Honor , Detroit: The Perrien-Keydel Company, 1901, Vol. 1, pp. 114 - 115  [AotW citation 10173]