President Obama will issue a posthumous Civil War Medal of Honor on Nov. 6.
Alonzo H. Cushing, commanding officer of Battery A, 4th United States Artillery, Artillery Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac, will be recognized for his actions during the Battle of Gettysburg over 150 years ago, according to Military Times. Typically, the award – which is the highest recognition of battlefield valor in the nation – must be awarded within three years of the heroic act, but Congress made an exception for Cushing's exemplary sacrifice.
At age 22, the Wisconsin native was in command of 110 soldiers and six cannons at Cemetery Ridge, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, when 13,000 Confederate servicemembers, known as Pickett's Charge, advanced toward him and his men. Even after being severely wounded by enemy actions, Cushing remained fighting on the front lines, where he died in combat on July 3, 1863, noted Military Times.
Cushing's cousins, Frederic Steven Sater and Frederic Cushing Stevens III, will attend the awards ceremony at the White House, where they will accept the award from the president on behalf of their deceased ancestor. Military Times noted that the Cushing name remains significant in southern Wisconsin, where there is a monument to Alonzo and his brothers in Cushing Memorial Park.