Civil War Service of Francis Warren

From WyoHistory.org.  "Francis E. Warren:  A Massachusetts farm boy who changed Wyoming."

Son of a farmer born in Hinsdale, Massachusetts, June 22, 1844, but the farm began to falter and he had to drop out of school to help out.  At age 15 he was working on a neighbor's dairy farm for $13 a month.  He did manage to get back to school for a couple years.

When the Civil War broke out, he wanted to volunteer for the Union Army right away, but his father insisted he wait until his 18th birthday.  He joined Company C of the 49th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

On May 27, 1863, during the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, he volunteered to be part of the first attack group which was met by a tremendous Confederate fire with most of the men either wounded or killed.  Francis Warren received a serious scalp wound and at first was thought to be dead.

An alert doctor saw that he was still alive and had him pulled from a trench or he might have been buried alive in a mass grave.  He recovered fully from his wounds.

For his efforts on the battlefield that day, young Francis was cited for "bravery above and beyond  the call of duty."  Thirty years later, while serving in the U.S. Senate, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his courage.

--Old Secesh