A Melancholy Affair
at the
Weldon Railroad
JUNE 23, 1864

NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS

First Battle of the Weldon Railroad June 23, 1864
Medal of Honor -- Color Sergeant James Drury
Why did the Vermonters die at Andersonville? -- The Deadly Hookworm

Medal of Honor -- Color Sergeant James Drury

James John Drury
[From Walter F. Beyer and Oscar F. Keydel, “Deeds of Valor: How America’s Heroes Won the Medal of Honor” (Detroit, Perrien-Keydel Co., 1910]

Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 4th Regiment Vermont Volunteer Infantry.
Place and date: At Weldon Railroad, Virginia, 23 June 1864.
Date of issue: 18 January 1893
Citation: Saved the colors of his regiment when it was surrounded by a much larger force of the enemy and after the greater part of the regiment had been killed or captured.

By the time of U. S. Grant’s Overland Campaign of 1864, the 4th Regiment of Vermont Volunteer Infantry was a veteran outfit having served since 1862 as part of the proud Vermont Brigade of the Sixth Army Corps, AOP. On Thursday morning, June 23, 1864, the 4th Vermont, 230 strong, was sent on picket duty south of Petersburg under the command of Major John E. Pratt. These Vermonters were strung out in a long line covering one-half mile in front of the left end of the Vermont Brigade facing the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad. In the late afternoon the Virginia Brigade of Brigadier General William Malone’s Division, A. P. Hill’s Corps ANV, crashed into them. The Confederates split the picket line and fanned out behind it onto the farm of Dr. Gurley. Captain William C. Tracy assembled the left wing of the regiment for a brief fight but he soon fell mortally wounded, shot through the neck, and after a few more of the Vermonters were shot down, the rest surrendered. Major Pratt and the right wing of the regiment retreated north and eventually were forced to surrender. Somehow, in all this, Color Sergeant James Drury managed to escape with the regimental colors making it back to the safety of the Sixth Corps main line.

We have an account of this incident published in 1910 and presumable written with Drury’s input:

The commanding officer of the Vermonters, seeing they could not extricate themselves, and that capture was inevitable, stepped up to sergeant James Drury, of the Fourth Vermont Infantry, who had the colors, and remarked that the regiment would lose its standard. Drury replied, “They will have to kill this Irishman before they get it.” The officer pointed to a road which seemed to offer some chance as an avenue of escape. “Go that way and perhaps you may succeed in escaping the rebels,” the officer observed. Drury lost no time in following the advice. Wrapping the flag around the staff, he said to his command, “Boys, I’m going to save this flag or die in the attempt.” Privates Brown and Wilson called out, “We’ll be with you, sergeant!” And then the three started across the open fields. They had not progressed far, however, when the rebels shouted to them, “Halt, you damn Yankees!” But the Yankees did not halt. A shower of bullets was sent after them. Poor Brown fell. To their regret they had to leave the brave fellow behind. Sergeant Drury and his remaining companion, Private Wilson, ran as fast as they could and safely reached the timber. By this time darkness had set in and the fugitives were able to conceal themselves in the woods till daybreak, when they found the Federal pickets, and thus saved the flag from falling into the enemy’s hands.

There are several questionable aspects in this account. First, it was published 36 years later in a book (“Deeds of Valor”) extolling the valor of Federal soldiers in the Civil War. Second, there are several major factual errors in the introduction. Third, there are inaccuracies and obvious editorial embellishments in this account. Privates Brown and Wilson sound like generic enlisted men. No Private Brown, wounded or otherwise, can be found in the regimental roster. Private Wilson possibly refers to Oliver A. Wilson of Company F who was taken prisoner on June 23. Fifty enlisted men of the 4th Regiment escaped the encircling Rebels. One wonders if not three but a confused horde of 50 Vermonters including the Color Guard ran for the timber when the Confederates attacked. Nonetheless, the basic outline of the story rings true depicting Sergeant Drury winning a foot race with the surrounding Confederates, escaping through a shower of Minie balls and, hiding with the regimental colors in the woods all night.

James John Drury was born in Limerick, County Clare, Ireland, on August 27, 1837. His father died when he was age eleven and with his mother he joined an older brother in Chester, Vermont. He enlisted at age 24 as a private in Company C, 4th Vermont in August 1861. He reenlisted in December 1863 earning the appellation of “Veteran Volunteer.” Drury was promoted to Sergeant on June 18, 1864 just prior to the battle at the Weldon Railroad. He appears to have been a model soldier. Captain Charles G. Fisher , in requesting Drury be granted a 25 day furlough in February 1865, wrote:

This veteran soldier, the color bearer of the regiment, has served from the commencement of the war until the present time with a singleness of purpose…Disregarding danger, he has led his regiment in all the battles it participated in from May 5, 1864 to October 19, 1864. In the Wilderness, at Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, his coolness and bravery in action commanded the respect of his officers as well as the faith and confidence of his comrades. In the engagement near the Weldon Railroad, when misfortune overtook the greater part of his regiment, he saved its colors. But more particularly did he distinguish himself in the battles in the Shenandoah valley, Charleston, Berryville, Fisher’s Hill and Cedar Creek being names impressed upon the memories of his comrades in common with his.

Drury was promoted 2nd lieutenant of Company D on June 4, 1865 but was mustered out as a sergeant in Company C the following month. He returned to Vermont and married Jane Daugherty of Keene, New Hampshire. The Drury’s moved to a two hundred acre farm near Albia, Monroe County, Iowa, [now the Lake Miami area] in 1869 where they raised a family of ten children.

Photograph of an older Drury wearing his Medal of Honor.
[From Eleanora Sofranko and Catherine M. Ross, “Upon This Rock: History of St. Peter’s Parish, Lovilia, Iowa” (Knoxville, Iowa: Quality Printing Co., 1982.)

James Drury’s grave site in St. Peter’s cemetery, Union Twp., Monroe Co., Iowa
[Photographs courtesy of Sarah Hindman of Albia, Iowa]

In 1890 Drury was described as a prosperous businessman in Albia and was color bearer of the Bluff Creek Veterans’ Association. His GAR comrades elected him “standard bearer” of Orman Post No. 123 in Albia with the admonition: “We give to your keeping this flag that our sons may emulate your noble deeds.” He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1893. He died on Christmas day in 1919. Following a Solemn High Requiem Mass, he was interred in the church yard of St. Peter’s Church in Lovilia. Shaded by a large Chinese elm, he is buried next to his wife and surrounded my other members of his family. The grave marker is inscribed:

Lieut. James
Co C, 4 VT
1835-1919

In July 2006 a granite Medal of Honor stone was placed at the gravesite. The GPS coordinates for the grrave are: 41.12784, 92.92003.

In 1892 Captain Daniel D. Wheeler wrote to the Adjutant General of the Army:

Sir,
I have the honor to recommend that Mr. James Drury of Albia, Monroe County, Iowa, be given a medal for distinguished gallantry in action on the Weldon Railroad, June 23, 1864 where he “displayed great bravery and succeeded in saving the colors of the 4th Vermont Volunteers, though nearly the whole regiment was captured.”
James Drury enlist in my company C Fourth Vermont Volunteers, was mustered into service September 21, 1861. He was a brave soldier and was a member of the Color Guard of his regiment nearly all the time of his service, and as Color bearer he distinguished himself repeatedly. I have selected the fight on the Weldon Railroad on which to base my recommendation, for, while he was always regarded as one of the bravest members of his regiment, his success in saving the colors of his regiment at that time was more widely known and talked about than any other act of his.

Wheeler also obtained a Medal of Honor for himself in 1892. He was the 2nd lieutenant of Company C. He became 1st Lieutenant of Company D in April 1863 and Company G in January 1864. In June 1864 he was promoted Captain and transferred to a staff position as AAG US Volunteers suggesting he was probably not with the 4th Vermont at the Weldon Railroad. Wheeler was brevetted colonel in March 1865 for gallant and meritorious services during the war. His Medal of Honor was awarded for distinguished gallantry at the battle of Salem Heights, Virginia on May 3, 1863.
The colonel at the War Department charged with investigating this recommendation was unimpressed and concluded:

In the Case of James Drury, Late of Company C 4th Vermont Volunteers …his records is good but no evidence has been found on the records relative to the act of bravery to have been performed by him.

Major General John A. Schofield, commander-in-chief of the Army also was also not impressed but displaying experience with Washington veterans’ politics wrote on November 22, 1892:

Respectfully submitted to General L. A. Grant, Assistant Secretary of War. I do not find in the records satisfactory evidence in support of the suggestion that James Drury, in saving the colors of his regiment in the action upon the Weldon railroad, performed any especially distinguished service…It has occurred to me that perhaps the personal knowledge and recollection of general Grant will enable him to throw light on this subject, or decide the question himself.

The General Grant referred to is not Ulysses Simpson Grant but Lewis Addison Grant, the acting Secretary of War, who just happened to be a Vermonter and during the Civil War was the Brigade Commander of the Vermont Brigade of which the 4th Vermont Infantry was a part. [L. A. Grant was awarded a Medal of Honor the same year for gallantry at Banks Ford during the Chancellorsville Campaign.] L. A. Grant wrote on January 7, 1893:

Referring to the endorsement of the Major General Commanding dated November 22, 1892, I have a personal knowledge of the circumstances under which the flag was saved, and in my opinion, it was an unusually gallant act. The Regiment was surrounded by a much larger force of the enemy, and the greater part of the Regiment were killed or captured. A comparatively small number escaped. It was remarkable that any escaped. The act of escaping was of itself commendable, and the act of keeping and carrying off the flag is regarded as conspicuous and gallant conduct. Let the medal be issued.

Two days later, on January 9, 1893, the reluctant War Department issued a Medal of Honor to James Drury “for distinguished gallantry in action on the Weldon Railroad, Virginia June 23, 1864.”

A letter written by the Vermont Adjutant & Inspector General to Governor John G. Smith on August 14, 1864 credits Lt. Joseph P. Aikens with saving the colors of the 4th Vermont saying, “Lt. Aikens is worthy of promotion. He behaved with great gallantry in the disastrous affair of June 23….He fought his way out with his company [Co. A] and saved the colors.” In his report for 1864, the Adjutant & Inspector General fails to mention any single person saying, “Although but few cut their way out, yet the Colors of the Fourth Regiment were saved, by the coolness and daring bravery of a few determined officers and men.”

The merits of this Medal of Honor can be argued. Drury’s case does illustrates the caveat: In Washington a century ago, as undoubtedly still is true today, it is good to have a friend in high places. It helps if your old Brigade commander is the Assistant and Acting Secretary of War.

::Read more narrative accounts::

First Battle of the Weldon Railroad June 23, 1864
Why did the Vermonters die at Andersonville? -- The Deadly Hookworm

Please contact David F. Cross, MD, with questions or input at davidcross@weldonrailroad.com