U. S. Army Corporal Henry Casey, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, received a wreath for Memorial Day from members of Company C, 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Sons of Veterans Reserve (SVR) which is the uniformed department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). They are members of Henry Casey Camp 92 SUVCW which is named in Casey’s honor. Pictured left to right: Camp Junior Vice Commander Charles Rose, Camp Secretary Shane L. Milburn, Shawn A. Cox, and Jordan Milburn.
Photos submitted by Robert Grim
Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Corporal Henry Casey wearing his Medal of Honor in 1897.
Photos submitted by Robert Grim
Henry Casey, from Bloomingburg, served a three-year enlistment in the Union Army during the Civil War and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed on April 22, 1863 while serving in Company C, 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
According to the certificate with his Medal of Honor, he received the medal for “Most distinguished gallantry at Vicksburg, Mississippi April 22, 1863, in volunteering and serving as one of the crew of a transport that was under very heavy fire in passing the forts at that place.”
Casey was a member of Bloomingburg Lodge No. 449 Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio and served 46 years as the lodge treasurer; a post he held at the time of his death on May 9, 1919 at the age of 81. He was married to Catherine W. Holland and they had nine children.
Members of Henry Casey Camp 92 SUVCW obtained a U. S. government grave marker plaque with the Medal of Honor logo and placed it at his grave site in 1999 in observance of the 80th anniversary of his death. His Medal of Honor and unit badge are on display at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis, Washington.
There are four Congressional Medal of Honor recipients buried in Fayette County. All four of them are remembered this Memorial Day by members of Henry Casey Camp 92 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) with a wreath at their grave site.
All four Medal of Honor recipients served in the Union Army during the Civil War. In addition to Henry Casey two of the other recipients; First Lt. David Jones and Corporal Isaac Carman, received their Medal for action at Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863 and the fourth one; Sgt. Major Francis McMillen, received his Medal for action during the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia in 1865. Lt. Jones is buried at Good Hope and Corporal Isaac Carman and Sgt. Major Francis McMillen are buried in the Washington Cemetery.
The members of Henry Casey Camp also placed a wreath at the grave site of the last surviving Fayette County Union Civil War Veteran Elon Thornton who died May 15, 1941 about one month short of his 97th birthday. He is buried in the Washington Cemetery.
