The Louisiana in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Southern Cross of Honor
In Response To: Southern Cross of Honor ()

Jim, the Southern Cross of Honor was a post war decoration given only by the UDC. If you are referring to what was called the Confederate Medal of Honor I can supply this humble information. This medal was never struck and was replaced by a "Roll of Honor". One recieved this honor after a victory and was chosen by members of his own company.

The idea of singling out individual soldiers rubbed some units the wrong way. They would therefore nominate everybody in the Company or some would refuse to do this at all, from the Company on up to the Regimental level. That explains why some regiments have multiple winners and some have none.

I have a copy of Gregg Clemmer's great book, "Valor in Gray". It list the entire Confederate Roll of Honor. The only Louisiana troops who participated were AoT. Seems they voted winners after the Battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. The only exception I see is 1st. Lt. John M. Galbraith of the 1st Company Washington Artillery for Drewry's Bluff, Virginia on May 16, 1862.

Of course the rules and guidelines seem to have been treated loosely by our CSA ancestors so I guess oversights should be expected. If you look at a soldier's service record who did recieve this honor you should find a card attesting to this fact from the Adjutent & Inspector General's 0ffice. You can see one of these cards at my website's "Roll of Honor" page at...

http://www.geocities.com/poboy1961/honor.html

Some folks don't respect these "medals" and prefer to go by the SCV standards of granting what we know today as the Confederate Medal of Honor. But I feel the actual men who were in these fights knew at least as much about bravery as we do today, thus I am proud of my 2nd great-grandfather's "Medal". He never actually recieved one. But I feel safe in saying he must have been a brave man.

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Southern Cross of Honor
Re: Southern Cross of Honor