The National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults

Accepting a long-overdue honor

5/25/1900

William H. Carney acknowledges receipt of the Medal of Honor in this letter to the chief of the Records and Pensions Office. He finally received the medal in May 1900—37 years after he planted the colors of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on the parapet of Fort Wagner.

National Archives, Records of the Adjutant General's Office

Tags

• African Americans
• Massachusetts
• Army
• Medal of Honor
• Civil War

Media

• This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War

Educational Resources

• Teaching With Documents: The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

Additional Resources

• The Army Medal of Honor: The First Fifty-five Years
• ARC Gallery: African Americans
• ARC Gallery: Civil War