HomeOfHeroes.com
Is Available thanks to a small but dedicated group of Contributors
Meet the Supporters Who Help us Pay the Bills

Hillside Cemetery

Born:  August 11, 1841 at Wallkill, NY

Entered Service in the US Army from Wallkill, NY

Earned The Medal of Honor During the Civil War For heroism May 12, 1864 at Spotsylvania, VA

Following the Wilderness Battle and the repulse of the Union Forces (May 5 - 7, 1864) General Grant pushed ahead on the Confederates' right to Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, where he engaged Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army from May 8 - 19, with the bloodiest battle occurring on May 12. In that battle thirty-six soldiers earned Medals of Honor including First Lieutenant Lewis Wisner, an engineer officer. Lieutenant Wisner was ordered to have his men lower the breastworks near the Bloody Angle only eighteen inches in front of a firing Union battery, a poor decision but an order none-the-less. Placing his men in positions of relative safety, Lieutenant Wisner showed his orders to the battery commander who in turn threatened to shoot any man who attempted to lower the works. Convinced that certain death awaited any man who climbed them to lower the rail, Lieutenant Wisner shouted "Ill do it myself." Climbing atop the works with an ax, and under heavy fire from the enemy that riddled his uniform, Lieutenant Wisner valiantly carried out his orders. When the folly of this order was revealed, at the request of the battery commander, Lieutenant Wisner again exposed himself to replace the log just chopped free.