USMC Medal of Honor at Fort Fisher: Sgt. Richard Binder-- Part 1

From January 15, 2024, Medal of Honor Monday.

Sergeant Binder was born July 26, 1839, in Germany and moved to New York at age 15 before settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He worked as a barber and received his U.S. citizenship in 1860.  Just before his 22nd birthday, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on July 11, 1861.

He first served on a ship that sank at the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina, on November 1861.   (The only Union ship I could find that sank at the battle was the transport Governor.)

From there he moved on to serve on other ships and participated in actions.  In 1864, he was transferred to the USS Ticonderoga.

During the second attack on Fort Fisher, January 13-15, 1865, Sgt, Binder was captain of a gun on board his ship.  During that time, he "performed his duties with skill and courage" according to his Medal of Honor citation.

Quite a Few Medals of Honor at Fisher.  --Old B-Runner

Another Oops for Thomas O. Selfridge, This Time Postwar

As noted in the last post, I am writing about a German blockade runner during World War II that was sunk by the efforts of the light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4) and the destroyer USS Jouett (DD-396) off Brazil in 1944.  That blockade runner's name was the SS Rio Grande.

So, I looked up some more information on those two U.S. warships.  Turns out, both had Civil War connections.

The USS Omaha was the second ship in the U.S. Navy by that name.  The first one was the screw sloop USS Omaha, commissioned in 1872.  It's first commander was a veteran of the Union Navy named John Carson Febiger.

Later on, her commander was Thomas O. Selfridge, whom I have written about before.  He was essentially a bad-luck commander.  While in command of the Omaha, in 1887, conducted target practice off the Japanese island of Ikeshima which resulted in the deaths of four Japanese and the wounding of seven others.

This created an international incident and Selfridge was acquitted at a court martial in 1888.

I Tell You, That Guy.  Wow!  --Old B-Runner

Fort Jackson Mutiny-- Part 4: An Immigrant Thing

The mutineers were soldiers primarily recruited from New Orleans'  large German and Irish immigrant populations.  Pierson shows that  the new nation (the Confederacy)  had done nothing to encourage poor white men to feel they had aa place of honor in the new  Southern Republic.

He  argues that the mutineers actively  sought to help the Union cause.  In a major reassessment of the Union administration of New Orleans that followed, Pierson  demonstrates that Union general Benjamin Butler enjoyed the support of  many white Unionists in the city.

Pierson adds  an urban working-class element to debates over the effects of  white Unionists in Confederate states.  With the personal stories o soldiers appearing throughout the book, "Mutiny at Fort Jackson" presents the Civil War from a different perspective, revealing the complexities of New Orleans society and the Confederate experience.

--Old B-Runner