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Old North Cemetery

Born:  April 13, 1845 at Ipswich, MA

Entered Service in the US Army from Boston, MA

Earned The Medal of Honor During the Civil War For heroism November 29, 1863 at Fort Sanders, TN

Private Joseph Manning was one of three soldiers who earned the Medal of Honor for the capture of an enemy flag in action against rebel forces at Fort Sanders, Tennessee, on November 29, 1863. During that battle the Confederate forces were forced to retreat and took cover in a ditch. As night fell a detachment was sent to dislodge the rebels from their cover, and Private Manning attempted to join this force but became separated. Alone he moved towards the ditch, waiting until he thought his comrades had entered, and then jumped into the ditch himself to find he was the only Union soldier in a ditch otherwise held by a rebel color bearer. Boldly, Private Manning ordered him to surrender, taking the flag of the 16th Georgia Infantry (Confederate States of America). At that moment his patrol was returning so he turned his own prisoner over to the group. "A wounded rebel in the ditch asked me to take him inside the works as he was in danger of being shot where he lay," Manning recalled. I made him climb over the dead and wounded and passed up the (captured) colors to him--till I climbed up. I placed the colors and my gun over my left shoulder and supported him with my right arm as we walked over a hundred yards (to the fort)."