Capture the Flag: Corporal George W. Reed
During the U.S. Civil War, many Medals of Honor were awarded for capturing the enemy’s flag. George W. Reed was the recipient of one such award on September 6, 1864, […]
Throughout October and November 1863 a series of encounters took place between Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and the Union’s Army of the Cumberland. Those encounters would become known as the Chattanooga Campaign because they occurred around the area of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and were intended to stymie movement of Confederate troops and supplies.
Beginning in late September 1863, Union troops under Major General William B. Rosecrans began moving into Chattanooga. Fresh off a bloody defeat at Chickamauga, Georgia, they soon were followed by Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg, who took positions in the hills surrounding the city. Before long, Bragg held Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Racoon Mountain, and Lookout Valley. He then ordered the destruction of all Union supply lines in the area.
The Union responded by sending troops under Major General William T. Sherman and Major General Joseph (Fighting Joe) Hooker to Rosecrans’s aid, and subsequent fighting over the next two months saw the Union army push Bragg off the mountains. As part of the response, Rosecrans was replaced by General George Thomas and General Ulysses Grant was place in command of all Union troops in the Chattanooga area.
By November 27, Bragg had been pushed back to Ringgold Gap, in northwest Georgia. Bragg ordered 4,200 troops under General Patrick Cleburne to defend the gap, hoping Cleburne could buy time that would allow Bragg’s artillery and supply trains to pass safely through the gap.
Hooker arrived at the gap with 16,000 men and, despite his four to one manpower advantage, was unable to dislodge Cleburne from his position until Bragg’s artillery and wagon trains had successfully passed through. After five hours of intense fighting, Cleburne received word that he could safely withdraw. As he did, he burned the bridge at the gap’s exit, leaving Grant to call off his pursuit and return his troops to Chattanooga.
The fighting at Ringgold Gap saw Cleburne lose 480 men killed and wounded, while inflicting similar losses on Hooker, who had an estimated 432 killed and wounded. The heaviest of Hooker’s losses came to troops from New York, including the 149th New York Infantry. Cleburn’s defense of Ringgold Gap enabled the Confederate army to continue fighting for another nine months in that part of Georgia.
By James Gindlesperger, historical author
On September 2, 1840, a baby boy was born in Salina, New York, to Jacob and Philipina (Wegen) Goettel, the second child of what would become a family of 11 children. The couple’s first child named Jacob, after his father, so this baby was named Philip, after his mother, Philipina. Little is known of Philip’s early years until he was mustered in with the 149th New York Infantry on September 18, 1862.
Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Strong and Major Abel G. Cook, the regiment departed Syracuse just five days later for Washington. Strong was forced to leave the regiment only a few weeks later, with command falling to Cook until Colonel Henry A. Barnum was able to recover sufficiently from wounds received at Malvern Hill, Virginia. Barnum officially took command of the 149th New York in January, 1863, just in time for Goettel’s regiment to take part in the infamous Mud March – a failed campaign through northern Virginia.
Aside from a minor skirmish, Goettel and the 149th New York saw little hostile action until May 1 through 5, 1863 at Chancellorsville, Virginia. There, with Cook commanding once again after continuing complications from Barnum’s Malvern Hill wound forced him to relinquish command, Goettel was wounded in the fighting of May 3. He would miss all the regiment’s actions over the next several months, including the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as a result of this wound, rejoining the New Yorkers in time for the fighting at Lookout Mountain on November 23 and 24, 1863.
There, on November 24, as part of Major General Joseph (Fighting Joe) Hooker’s XII Corps, Goettel and his companions made a charge across an open field and through a woodlot while under heavy fire from Brigadier General Edward C. Walthall’s Brigade. Walthall’s artillery fired several volleys of grape and canister into the advancing Federals before slowly crumbling under the assault. Despite a courageous defense, the Southerner’s line was unable to fend off the assault, and soon the field was in the hands of the Union army. Hooker would also take Missionary Ridge the next day.
On November 27, Goettel and the 149th New York met the Confederates once again at Ringgold Gap, Georgia. Earlier arrivals to the Gap were already giving way to the Confederate army. Hooker, spying Brigadier General John Geary’s 2nd Division, ordered Geary to hold the line until Hooker could get his artillery into position. Geary immediately sent his 3rd Brigade, including the 149th New York, into the fight. Leading the charge, the New Yorkers advanced slowly, putting a rebel cannon out of service.
After intense fighting, with the 3rd Brigade holding its position, Hooker’s artillery arrived and opened fire into the Southerners. The added firepower proved to be too much for the Confederates to hold on, and they slowly began a fighting retreat. Seeing the rebels pulling back, the New Yorkers began a pursuit of what was part of Confederate Captain Henry C. Semple’s Battery. Racing toward a Confederate flag bearer, Goettel tore the flag from the startled man’s grasp before the rebel realized he was there. He was also able to capture the battery’s guidon.
In spite of Goettel’s heroics, the Union army was beaten back. Goettel would hold onto the captured flags for nearly a week before being able to turn them over to the quartermaster. On June 28, 1865, his actions at Ringgold Gap were recognized with the presentation of the Medal of Honor, his citation simply stating, “Capture of flag and a battery guidon.”
Following the war Goettel returned to New York, settling in Syracuse and marrying. With his wife Henrietta, they would have three children before Henrietta tragically died at the age of 29. She would be buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse.
A few years later, Philip would remarry. He and his second wife, Carolina, would have one child. When Carolina died in 1902, she was buried beside Henrietta in Woodlawn Cemetery. On January 30, 1920, Philip passed away and was buried adjacent to both wives in Woodlawn.
Goettel left behind two versions of his Medal of Honor — the 1896 design and his reissued 1904 design, which known as the Gillespie Medal after George Gillespie, Medal of Honor recipient and chairman of the committee that finalized that version’s design. Both Medals were passed down through his family until his great grandson bequeathed it to the Civil War Institute in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where it remains.
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About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor, inspiring America to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients of the Medal as they connect with communities across America.
Chartered by Congress in 1958, its membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor. There are fewer than 70 living Recipients.
The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education and preservation programs, including the Medal of Honor Museum, Medal of Honor Outreach Programs, the Medal of Honor Character Development Program, and the Medal of Honor Citizen Honors Awards for Valor and Service. The Society’s programs and operations are funded by donations.
As part of Public Law 106-83, the Medal of the Honor Memorial Act, the Medal of Honor Museum, which is co-located with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s headquarters on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was designated as one of three national Medal of Honor sites.
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