MEDALS OF HONOR A FITTING REMEMBRANCE

Compelling and truly unusual books appear all too infrequently among the glut and babble of Civil War literature. Gregg S. Clemmer's new book, Valor in Gray: The Recipients of the Confederate Medal of Honor, is the happy exception.
The Marylander with Virginia ancestors and a Virginia Tech degree (where he studied with renowned Civil War historian, James I. Robertson) has made a needed contribution to Civil War history. More important, he sets exactly the right tone in his book.

By this time, most readers are probably saying, "I didn't know the Confederacy had a Medal of Honor." You're not alone. Although I have read every word of the Journals of the Confederate Congress, most documents relating to Congress and papers of more Confederate officials than I like to remember, I couldn't recall a Confederate Medal of Honor. I did, however vaguely remember a congressional resolution about medals to be awarded in a roll of honor for Confederate soldiers

In a nice introduction, Clemmer clarifies my confusion. He explains that Congress authorized every regiment, by majority vote after each battle, to select a recipient from its ranks for inclusion in the Confederate Roll of Honor. Since the roll grew beyond 2,000 men, Congress later confirmed a Medal of Honor for truly courageous service.

Political differences stemming from design of the medal and who would get the contract to make it, as well as military reversal, prevented Congress from finally establishing a Confederate Medal of Honor. The Confederacy faded from history with no medal ever having been made or awarded.

Years after the war, the Confederate Veterans organizations, Sons of Confederate Veterans, tried to achieve what Congress failed to do. Deciding that 2,000 were too many to make the medal meaningful, the organization decided to apply the stringent requirements for the United States Congressional Medal of Honor established in 1917. Applying these standards narrowed the list to the 50 who make up Valor in Gray.

The first Confederate Medal of Honor was awarded on Memorial Day 1977 in Smyrna, Tenn., to Pvt. Sam Davis, "The Boy Hero of the Confederacy," who was granted the medal for service in Coleman's Scouts at Pulaski, Tenn., on Nov. 27, 1863. Davis was captured with documents detailing the plans about the Union army. Because he refused to identify his informants, he was executed. He was 21 years old.

The very first recipient is, then, a fitting reminder that war is not gorious. In publishing his book, Clemmer is well aware of the criticism coming from those who believe that writing about war "often flirts with glorification of combat. It is my wish that Valor in Gray avoid that trap. Those who have experienced it know there is little good on the battlefield. Only by learning from the tragedy can we possibly understand the scourage."

To make this point even more forcefully, Clemmer called upon his friend retired Navy Capt. Thomas G. Kelley, himself a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor in Vietnam, to write an excellent foreword. Kelley observes, "...there is potential pitfall in recounting and writing about battlefield exploits...namely that the concept of war itself will somehow be portrayed as virtuous, glamorous, or admirable. Nothing could be further from the turth...there is nothing nice, nothing noble, nothing uplifting about war. It is a senseless waste of minds, bodies, and lives. It is a tragic offering up of a nation's greatest resource...its young men and women."

Keep his superb caveat in mind as you read this outstanding, well-written, carefully compiled, significant contribution to Confederate history. See the wisdom in Kelley's observations when you thumb through the book and look into the faces of these soldiers, many of whom were little more than boys.

The 42 chapters of the book contain a narrative of the service of each recipient, his citation for valor and a picture. Local readers will naturally be interested in the actions of the men awarded the medals for service in this area; Sgt. Richard Rowland Kirkland, 2nd South Carolina Infantry, in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. (Kirkland, 19 at Fredericksburg, died one month after his 20th birthday at the battle of Chickamauga); Pvt. Asbury W. Hancock, 19th Mississippi Infantry, at the Battle of Spotsylvania, May 12, 1864; Capt. John Singleton Mosby, Mosby's Regulars, at the Raid on Fairfax Courthouse, March 8-9, 1863; Brig. Gen. Dorsey Pender, Pender's Brigade, Battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. There is one female winner, Juliet Opie Hopkins, a nurse cited for valor in the Battle of Seven Pines, June 1, 1862.

Valor in Gray is an attractive, nicely designed and printed volume. There is a good bibliography, and the footnotes are placed where they are supposed to be, namely at the bottom of the page. Serious readers will thank Clemmer for this. Appendices describe (sometimes with picture or illustration) other medals and awards of the Confederacy. The final appendix lists the more than 2,000 names in the Confederate Roll of Honor.

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