Support our Veterans Who Have Chosen to Run for Public Office

US Naval Hospital Cemetery

Born:  1825 at Scotland

Entered Service in the US Navy from New York

Earned The Medal of Honor During the Civil War For heroism August 05, 1864 at Mobile Bay,  AL

On August 5, Union Admiral David Farragut's Union fleet of eighteen ships entered Mobile Bay, Alabama, and received a devastating fire from Forts Gaines and Morgan and other points. His wooden ships fought valiantly under this devastating fire as well as shells from the rebel gunboats and the ironclad ram Tennessee. After passing the forts, Farragut forced the Confederate naval forces under Admiral Buchanan, to surrender, along with the prized ram Tennessee. Fort Morgan was destroyed and this action effectively closed Mobile Bay as a Confederate port, making the action one of the greatest Naval victories of the war. Ninety sailors and eight Marines were awarded Medals of Honor, the most for any single day in history. Eight crewmen of the U.S.S. Metacomet were numbered among these heroes, including Seaman James Avery, a member of the boat's crew which went to the rescue of the U.S. monitor Tecumseh when it was struck by a torpedo in passing the enemy forts. Seaman Avery braved the enemy fire which was said by the admiral to be "one of the most galling" he had ever seen, and aided in rescuing from death ten of the crew of the Tecumseh, eliciting the admiration of both friend and foe.