The tombstone of Civil War veteran Brevet Brig. Gen. Henry Van Ness Boynton at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., is shown in November 2024. Boynton — as a Union lieutenant colonel — earned a Medal of Honor leading the 35th Ohio Infantry during an action at Missionary Ridge, Tenn. Boynton led his regiment in the face of intense fire from the enemy and was severely wounded. Boynton’s tombstone does not have a marker signifying that he is Medal of Honor recipient. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Richard Hamilton, a barrel-maker in Philadelphia, heeded President Abraham Lincoln’s call to service and joined the Navy in 1864 after serving in a volunteer militia at the start of the Civil War.
Hamilton was tapped to work aboard a 30-foot, steam-powered boat on a mission to ambush the CSS Abermarle, an ironclad vessel for the Confederacy that was three times its size. The ironclad ship was ramming Union gun boats in the waterways of North Carolina, according to the Medal of Honor Historical Society.
The Medal of Honor — the military’s highest honor for combat valor — was awarded to Hamilton and a half-dozen other sailors for their risky pre-dawn maneuver on the Roanoke River that blew a hole in the Abermarle’s vulnerable wooden hull with an improvised weapon, an explosive device rigged to a long pole.
But it was not until 2024, more than 143 years after Hamilton’s death, that the veteran was commemorated with a marker recognizing his Medal of Honor at his gravesite in Camden, N.J.
“It should go without saying that every Medal of Honor recipient’s story of military service should be displayed on their headstone. It is the highest military award reserved for service members who’ve demonstrated extraordinary bravery in combat,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Bost led passage in the House of the Mark Our Place Act, which authorizes the “secretary of [the Department] Veterans Affairs to furnish or replace a headstone, marker, or medallion for the grave of an eligible Medal of Honor recipient regardless of the recipient’s dates of service in the armed forces, and for other purposes.”
Signed into law Nov. 24, the legislation overturned restrictions that kept the VA from providing the recognition at older gravesites out of concern for preserving their historic value, according to congressional documents.
Prior law had limited the “special markers for deceased Medal of Honor recipients who served on or after April 16, 1917, to help protect antique headstones and preserve the vista of historic cemeteries,” according to a report submitted to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in 2016 supporting the restriction.
“The Mark Our Place Act removes limitations previously found in the law. When the restrictions are removed, the law will allow VA to furnish headstones, markers or medallions that specifically signify the deceased’s status as a Medal of Honor recipient, regardless of the dates of the recipient’s service, and regardless of whether the grave is already marked,” said Terrence Haynes, the VA press secretary.
The VA has two pending requests for providing the markers at cemeteries with passage of the legislation. The agency declined to identify the burial grounds.
But Ray Johnston, director of the Medal of Honor Historical Society, cautioned the legislation might not go far enough to ensure Medal of Honor recipients are properly recognized for their contributions at their gravesites.
Non-military cemeteries — where most veterans are interred — often resist altering older gravesites with historical significance, he said.
Concerns are raised about making changes or disturbing old gravesites, Johnston said. Original cemetery markers are considered a time capsule that reflect a community’s beliefs and customs even though the markers might be weathered over time.
“We’ve had to fall back on private financing when I am going for a marker for an early Medal of Honor recipient” because the VA previously did not provide the benefit, Johnston said.
In cases where there is no marker, the VA continued to supply the headstone.
Bost is among several lawmakers who are veterans who spearheaded the Mark Our Place Act to ease the process for providing free VA-furnished markers and medallions for pre-1917 Medal of Honor recipients, which he estimated numbered 2,000 prior to World War I.
“A service member’s sacrifices should be timeless,” said Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, chairman of the House VA subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs. “All of the Medal of Honor recipients should be recognized for their heroism.”
Legislation creating the Medal of Honor was signed into law by Lincoln in December 1861.
“When we find a guy who’s lost and get a marker for him, it is really gratifying,” said Johnston, 76, a former Army staff sergeant who served from 1966 to 1970, with deployments to the Philippines and Vietnam.
A total of 1,200 Medals of Honor were awarded during the Civil War for “gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty,” according to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, a museum and research center.
But Johnston said the Medal of Honor Historical Society has documented more than 1,500 recipients from the Civil War through grassroots efforts by volunteers.
“I have four reference books staring at me that list every Medal of Honor recipient,” he said.
Because the Medal of Honor was the only military honor when it was created, the award was more frequently given out with justifications that might not meet modern standards for the nation’s highest military honor, Johnston said.
Hamilton was considered a “lost soul” with his gravesite unknown until his descendants sought to locate him after tracing their genealogy to the Civil War sailor.
“I think the word ‘braveheart’ describes Richard Hamilton well, and all his comrades, as they were courageous men indeed, and what they did in North Carolina in the fall of 1864 is worthy of remembrance,” said Eric Umile, the great-great-great nephew of Hamilton.
The family, with assistance from the Medal of Honor Historical Society, worked for three years to document and place a gravestone at Hamilton’s site signifying his Medal of Honor.
“Richard Hamilton’s gravestone was illegible and located in a largely abandoned cemetery that was discovered by one of his descendants,” Johnston said.
Hamilton’s descendants participated in a dedication ceremony attended by the local American Legion and other veterans’ advocates.
To receive a specially inscribed marker from the VA, the applicant must present an approval letter from the cemetery or burial plot owner for marking the gravesite, including information on what is allowed at the site.
Johnston, who lives in Ohio, said his association has been trying for a year to provide a similar marker for another Medal of Honor recipient from the Civil War interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Calif.
“The cemetery won’t let me do it. They consider the site historic,” he said. “We can’t touch it.”
Though Johnston’s organization found a photo of the veteran’s grave marked with the words “Geo Prance, US Soldier” when documenting his medal, he said the cemetery cannot verify where the grave is located on the 226-acre site.
The situation is different for the Medal of Honor recipients interred at Arlington National Cemetery, Va.
Of more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients, 400 have been laid to rest at Arlington, ranging from the Civil War to more recent conflicts, according to the cemetery. All Medal of Honor recipients are listed by conflict on the cemetery website, regardless of whether their gravestones signify the medal with an inscription or design.
In 1977, Arlington National Cemetery replaced the headstones of 128 Medal of Honor recipients to include a special inscription recognizing the award. The count includes pre-1917 recipients, according to Arlington.
An unspecified number of graves at the cemetery are private, and any changes must be made at the family’s request, according to regulations.
Johnston said his organization will provide a flat stone signifying a Medal of Honor recipient that is added at a gravesite so there is minimal change to their final resting place. The organization’s goal is to ensure all qualifying gravesites have a marker that signifies the Medal of Honor, Johnston said.
Other pre-1917 conflicts with Medal of Honor recipients include the Spanish American War of 1898, the Indian wars waged from 1609 to 1924, the Boxer Rebellion fought in China from 1899 to 1901, and the Mexican service campaign of 1914 when U.S. troops occupied the port city of Vera Cruz during the Mexican Revolution.
“We need to ensure that every Medal of Honor recipient is properly honored where they are laid to rest,” Bost said.
“The new law is helpful. It goes a long way to correcting wrongs,” Johnston said.
