“You Got the Prize Money, Didn’t You?” Marylanders in the Army of the Potomac, Part 5.

On October 15, 1864, Thomas Savage, the U.S. Vice Consul to Cuba, sent $350.65 to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Savage had collected this money from several American citizens living in Havana who wanted it donated to the “noncommissioned officer or private, who may be first to enter Richmond, should that City be taken by assault, and in the event of his being killed, to his legal heirs.”

Stanton deposited the money inside the City Bank of New York and then wrote to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, repeating the same message. As commander of the Union forces near Richmond, Grant had the authority to determine who should receive Savage’s prize money. As the months passed, more patriotic northerners heard about the “First-to-Enter-Richmond” prize fund and contributed to it. By April 1865, the pile had grown to $460.

For the past several posts, I’ve been profiling the important work done by Marylanders who served with the Army of the Potomac. Well, you probably guessed it. Marylanders got the prize money. Therefore, they won the distinction of being the first troops to break the back of the Army of Northern Virginia.

How did it happen? Well, here’s the story.

The Army of the Potomac lurched forward on two critical days, April 1 and 2, 1865. At 4 P.M., April 1, the 5^th Corps—then under the Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren—slammed into the far right flank of Robert E. Lee’s line at Five Forks crossroads. Specifically, the 5^th Corps troops struck a section of earthworks held by Maj. Gen. George Pickett’s division. Although the whole 5^th Corps participated in this assault, Col. Richard N. Bowerman’s Maryland Brigade, bearing 875 enlisted men, had the good fortune of being the first to overrun Pickett’s entrenchments. (This was not because the Marylanders were better fighters, or better runners, but merely because the Maryland Brigade was positioned in the ideal spot to make contact.) 

The Marylanders struck Brig. Gen. Matthew Ransom’s brigade with full fury, routing it, and sustaining only 10 killed, 57 wounded, and 11 missing. In the maelstrom of battle, the Marylanders took two battle flags and dozens of prisoners. One of those who earned recognition was Corporal Jacob R. Tucker, Company G, 4^th Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Other members of the brigade claimed that he had been the first to cross the enemy parapet. Tucker was not a Marylander by birth—he had been born in Chester County, Pennsylvania—but he enlisted in Baltimore in the summer of 1862, mustering into service on August 13. Although young, Tucker was no greenhorn. He had survived a wound during the Battle of Spindle Farm, May 8, 1864. Coincidentally, April 1, 1865, was his twentieth birthday.

The next day, another valiant Marylander distinguished himself. At dawn, April 2, Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright’s 6^th Corps delivered a knock-out blow against Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill’s Confederate corps southwest of Petersburg. More than 14,000 federal troops overran these Confederate earthworks, breaking open a yawning chasm in the Confederate line. Colonel Joseph C. Hill’s 6^th Maryland occupied a portion of the front line. Although debate later raged about which division had been the first to make contact, most officers in the 3^rd Division, 6^th Corps, believed that Hill’s regiment had been the first to cross the enemy earthworks. After the battle, Colonel Hill identified twenty-two officers and men from his regiment who had distinguished themselves by being at the front of the charge. Among that contingent, Hill identified Sergeant John Ezra Buffington of Company C, 6^th Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Buffington was a farmer from Carroll County, born July 12, 1839. Like Tucker, he enlisted in Baltimore in the summer of 1862.

From that point, the general narrative is well-known by Civil War buffs. With the lines outside Petersburg taken, Lee’s army (and the Confederate government with it) commenced a desperate evacuation from Petersburg and Richmond. In the end, Lee’s army became trapped at Appomattox Court House, and one month later, Jeff Davis was arrested by Union cavalry near Irwinsville, Georgia. In short, the attacks of April 1 and 2 sounded the death knell of the Confederacy.

In May, after the other major Confederate armies had surrendered, Grant commenced the business of finding out which of his soldiers was entitled to the $460 in prize money. He determined that, since Richmond had not fallen by direct assault, the money should be awarded to several soldiers who led the way during the April 1 and 2 attacks. Ultimately, he decided to split the money three ways. One third of the fund would go to the 5^th Corps soldier who was first to leap atop the earthworks at Five Forks. Another third would go to the 6^th Corps soldier who was the first to cross the earthworks southwest of Petersburg. And the final third would go to the 24^th Corps soldier who was the first to scale the forts at the far end of the Petersburg line. For some unexplained reason, Grant ignored the 9^th Corps, which made a valiant assault south of Petersburg. Why he chose to snub this corps is still a mystery.

In any event, the three relevant corps commanders—Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin (5^th Corps), Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright (6^th Corps), and Maj. Gen. John Gibbon (24^th Corps)—began making inquiries. Eventually, they identified three soldiers. Gibbon selected Sergeant Thomas McGraw, Company B, 23^rd Illinois. Meanwhile, Griffin (who had recently replaced Warren) selected Corporal Tucker of the 4^th Maryland. Both of these soldiers received nearly identical letters from Grant, entitling them to their share of the prize money, which amounted to $153.33.

This is the letter received by Tucker:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 1865.

To Corporal Jacob R. TUCKER, Company G, Fourth Regiment Maryland Vol. Infantry:

SIR: The sum of four hundred and sixty dollars was sent me by patriotic citizens of the North to be given as a reward for gallantry to the soldier who should first raise the United States flag over Richmond. As Richmond was not taken by assault, I concluded that the donors’ wishes would be best carried out by dividing the sum between the three soldiers most conspicuous for gallantry in the final and successful assault on Petersburg.

Major-General Charles Griffin, commanding Fifth Army Corps, has selected you as entitled to this honor, in behalf of that command, and I herewith transmit to you the sum of one hundred and fifty-three dollars and thirty-three cents as one-third of the original sum.

It affords me great pleasure to receive from your commanding General such unqualified testimony of your gallantry and heroism in battle, and to be the medium of transmitting to you this recognition of the worth of your services in defence of our common country.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

However, the identification process in the 6^th Corps was murkier than the other two. Union forces had struck the Confederate line so quickly that the officers of 6^th Corps could not easily determine which regiment had been the first to penetrate the enemy line. Col. J. Warren Keifer, a brigade commander, adamantly believed that his brigade had been the first to do it. Taking the prize money case seriously, Keifer interviewed his officers, and by May 19, he had settled on Sergeant Buffington as the lucky recipient. Writing to Maj. Gen. Truman Seymour, his divisional commander, Keifer concluded, “I . . . am fully satisfied that Sergeant John E. Buffington, Co C 6^th Maryland Volunteers was the first man to pass over the works. . . . It is admitted by the men that the Sergeant did not halt upon the works but sprang within them.”

However, if Keifer’s report was circulated up the chain of command, it had no effect on the ultimate choice. For some unknown reason, Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright selected another soldier, one from a different division, Sergeant David W. Young of the 139^th Pennsylvania. Sergeant Young’s story is adequately told by the Emerging Civil War website, here. Grant’s letter to Young appeared in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Like Tucker’s letter, it read:

Headquarters, Armies of the United States, Washington, July 22, 1855.

To Sergeant David W. Young, 139^th Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers:

The sum of four hundred and sixty dollars was sent to me by patriotic citizens, to be presented as a reward for gallantry to the soldier who should first raise our flag over Richmond. As Richmond was not taken by assault, I have concluded that the doners’ wishes will be best carried out by dividing the sum between the three soldiers most conspicuous for gallantry in the final and successful assault on Petersburg.

You have been selected by Major-General H. G. Wright, commanding the 6^th Army Corps, as entitled to this honor on behalf of that command; and I herewith present to you one hundred and fifty-three dollars and fifty-three cents, as one-third of the original sum.

It affords me great satisfaction to receive from your commanding general such unqualified testimony of your gallantry and heroism in battle, and to be the medium for transmitting to you this recognition of the worth of your services in defence of our common country.

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.

And yet, some disagreement still exists as to which 6^th Corps soldier—Buffington or Young—deserved the prize money. Years later, Buffington applied to the War Department for a Medal of Honor based on his combat performance on April 2, 1865. In 1908, the War Department finally issued the award. On March 28, 1908, at Reindollar’s Opera House in Taneytown, a delegation from the G.A.R. made the official presentation to Buffington, who was then 68-years-old. A large gathering came out to witness the ceremony. The President of the G.A.R., John Rigdon King, delivered the dedicatory remarks. King was a self-selecting choice. After all, he had been present during the April 2, 1865, assault. In fact, he had served as the first lieutenant of Buffington’s company!

As he closed his speech, King made reference to the $460 prize money, claiming, perhaps incorrectly, that Buffington had received his share:

General Grant had placed in his hands the sum of $400 [sic] as a reward of gallantry for the man who should first raise our flag over Richmond. As Richmond was not taken by assault, he deemed the donor’s wishes would be best carried out by dividing the sum among three men, one to be selected by General Wright, Commander of the Sixth Corps, as most conspicuous for gallantry in carrying the lines at Petersburg, one to be selected by General Gibbons for gallantry in the assault on the fort south of Petersburg and one by Sheridan for gallantry at the battle of Five Forks. When General Grant addressed General Wright to designate the man of the Sixth Corps he referred the order to the commander of the Third Division of the Sixth Corps and General Ricketts in turn referred the order to the commander of the Second Brigade of the Third Division of the Sixth Corps, and here is the endorsement and recommendation:

Headquarters, First Brigade,

Third Division, Sixth Corps,

May 20^th, 1865

Respectfully forwarded.

Sergeant John E. Buffington, Company C, 6^th Maryland (Second Brigade) is believed to have been the first enlisted man of the Third Division who mounted the parapet of the enemy’s lines at Petersburg,

April 2, 1865.

T. SEYMOUR,

Brigadier General

It will be noticed that General Seymour was commander of the First Brigade. General J. Warren Keifer, whom we all love so well, was commander of the Second Brigade, of which our Regiment was a part. Why Seymour was called on to report I do not know. However, it is all the more honor as it is; but there is the record. . . . You got the money, didn’t you, Comrade Buffington, and how much of it have you left; enough to pay the expenses of this occasion?

So, who received the prize money, Buffington or Young? Probably that answer will never be known. Based on the existing documentation, it’s my guess is that Sergeant Young received it; however, there seems to have been an effort by the 6^th Corps officers to give it to Buffington.

Bravery is a difficult thing to quantify, and surely $153.33 is a paltry sum; it fell far short of doing justice to the heroics displayed by all the 6^th Corps troops who participated in the morning battle of April 2, 1865. Sergeant Young’s valor was certainly worthy of an award of any amount that could be imagined, but I wonder if the money went to the correct soldier. Even 43 years later, many people felt certain that Buffington was the first to cross the enemy line.

Buffington didn’t live much longer. He died on April 26, 1915, only seven years after receiving his medal. He is buried at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, Taneytown, Maryland.

The life of Corporal Jacob Tucker, 4^th Maryland, is harder to track. On April 22, 1871, Tucker, too, received a Medal of Honor for his action at Five Forks. He died on February 16, 1926. He was 80-years-old. He is buried in Baltimore Cemetery (at the modern-day junction of Belair Road and North Avenue).

In any event, Marylanders were in at the war’s close. That truth cannot be denied.

Sergeant John Ezra Buffington, Co. C, 6th Maryland, was reported to be the first Union soldier to cross the Confederate earthworks at Petersburg. Did he receive the promised $153.33 in prize money? The jury is still out.

Sergeant David W. Young of the 139th Pennsylvania made a valiant rush against the Confederate earthworks at Petersburg. Possibly, he may have received the prize money meant for Buffington.

In 1908, G.A.R. president John Rigdon King (formerly of the 6th Maryland) presented Buffington with his Medal of Honor. King believed that Buffington must have been given his share of the prize money.