The "Colonel's" Medal of Honor Series (Covering the period from 1861 to 1862 in alphabetic order)

Civil War

First Lieutenant Hillary Beyer, U.S. Army, Company H, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry Year of Action: 1862, Location of Action: Battle of Antietam

Hillary Beyer (1st Picture) was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1837. On May 18th, 1861 at the age of 23, he enlisted into Company A of the 19th Pennsylvania Regiment, a three-month unit. Three months later on August 29th, 1861, the regiment’s term of service had expired and the men were mustered out. The mass majority of the men re-enlisted for a three-year term becoming the 90th Pennsylvania Regiment. Beyer re-enlisted along with his comrades and joined Company H of the newly formed 90th Pennsylvania.

At the Battle of Antietam (2nd Picture) the 90th Pennsylvania served in the Second Brigade, William Christian, Second Division, James Ricketts of Joe Hooker’s First Corps. The First Corps was on the northern end of the battlefield approaching the infamous Cornfield and East Woods. The Second Brigade was originally led by Col William Christian, however; as Christian led his brigade closer to the East Woods, his mental state started to collaspe. The tremdenous sounds of battle rolling across the fields of battle weakened Christian’s nerves. Christian fled from the field leaving his brigade momentarily commaderless. Col. Peter Lyle of the 90th, will be elevated to the command of the brigade, this in-turn will elevate Lt.Col. William Leech to command the 90th. After the battle, Lyle wrote of the involment of the 90th Pennsylvania:

“We again lay on our arms all night, and at daybreak the next morning (17th) we moved to the right, passed to the front through a corn-field, and took position on the left of Matthew’s battery, First Pennsylvania, which we were ordered to support. Here we were exposed to a severe fire of musketry and shell, we being immediately in rear of the skirmishers, who were engaging the enemy in the corn-field in the front. We were moved to the left behind a wood [the East Woods], and formed in close column. The shells falling around us, the battery was moved to the front, into the woods. Here we were subject to a raking fire of grape, canister, and shell. The battery fell back, and the regiment was deployed and moved to the front in line. We passed through the woods into a plowed field, where we engaged the enemy until our forces on the right and left gave way, when, having but about 100 men left, we fell back slowly and in good order, under cover of the woods, and then, being hard pressed by the enemy, we fell to the rear, finding that fresh troops were coming to our relief”.

Opposing the 90th were the remmants of Alexander Lawton’s Division and Evander Law’s Brigade from John Bell Hood’s Division, the latter had started to arrive on the field to replace Lawton. Law’s men threatened both flanks of the 90th Pennsylvania, in an exposed position, the regiment was forced with no other choice but to fall back into the East Woods.

At Antietam the 90th faced numerous challenges, from command changes to being under heavy fire, these men held their ground as long as they could. Beyer, a Second Lieutentant in Company H showee tremendous leadership skills. Though his regiment was retiring from the field, Beyer remained behind risking his life to save as many of his fallen men as possible. Beyer carried one man off of the field to safety. The 90th Pennsylvania Regiment lost a total of 98 officers and men at Antietam, a number that could have been higher if not for the actions of Beyer.

90th Pennsylvania Monument at Antietam (3rd Picture)

The monument to the 90th Pennsylvania Regiment at Antietam has the dubious distinction of being the only monument at Antietam that needed to be replaced. The original monument was made of three original Civil War muskets, both time and weather had compromised the monument which had lasted from the 1880’s to 1930. A new monument designed like the original was dedicated on September 17, 2004, the anniversary of the battle by the decendents of the regiment.

Beyer continued to serve throughtout the war, during General Grant’s Overland Campagin of 1864, Beyer was wounded during the Battle of the Wilderness. In November of the same year, when his term expired, Beyer was mustered out and he returned home.

Awarded the Medal of Honor on October 30, 1896

Citation:

After his command had been forced to fall back, remained alone on the line of battle, caring for his wounded comrades and carrying one of them to a place of safety.

After the war Beyer lived in Germantown, Pennsylvania where he worked as a manager at the Knickabocker Ice Company, a position he would hold for twenty-five years. Beyer died in Norristown only days shy of his seventieth birthday. (4th Picture)

The Battle of Antietam (2nd Picture), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Major General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a tally of 22,727 dead, wounded, or missing on both sides. Although the Union Army suffered heavier casualties than the Confederates, the battle was a major turning point in the Union's favor.

After pursuing Confederate General Robert E. Lee into Maryland, Major General George B. McClellan of the Union Army launched attacks against Lee's army who were in defensive positions behind Antietam Creek. At dawn on September 17, Major General Joseph Hooker's corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank. Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's Cornfield, and fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not followed up. In the afternoon, Union Major General Ambrose Burnside's corps entered the action, capturing a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and advancing against the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, Confederate Major General A. P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and launched a surprise counterattack, driving back Burnside and ending the battle. Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout September 18, while removing his battered army south of the Potomac River.

McClellan successfully turned Lee's invasion back, making the battle a strategic Union victory. From a tactical standpoint, the battle was somewhat inconclusive; the Union Army successfully repelled the Confederate invasion, but suffered heavier casualties and failed to defeat Lee's army outright. President Abraham Lincoln, unhappy with McClellan's general pattern of overcaution and his failure to pursue the retreating Lee, relieved McClellan of command in November.

Nevertheless, the strategic accomplishment was a significant turning point in the war in favor of the Union due in large part to its political ramifications: the battle's result gave Lincoln the political confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This effectively discouraged the British and French governments from recognizing the Confederacy, as neither power wished to give the appearance of supporting slavery.