Sergeant John Clark Buckley was born on April 1, 1842, in Fayette County, West Virginia. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1862.
After the Civil War he first married Emma Williams who died on April 27, 1872, in Mason, West Virginia. He then married Margaret Cooper on May 2, 1878, in Hancock County, Indiana. She died from childbirth on May 28, 1879.
He died on March 29, 1915, in Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia. Pension records show that he was an invalid, probably from Civil War action. It is not known why he moved to Georgia, but in the 1910 Federal census he is listed as a farmer who is head of household and a widower. In 1910 he would have been 68 years old.
In modern vernacular his official citation might have read:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant John C. Buckley, United States Army, for gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863, while serving with Company G, 4th West Virginia Infantry, in action at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
His Medal of Honor event related to storming Confederate works on May 22, 1863, during the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The mission was made up of only single men because it was considered a “forlorn hope” mission.
The assault began at dawn, signaled by the thunderous roar of a naval bombardment. Union soldiers were immediately met with a hail of enemy fire, forcing them to take cover in the ditch they aimed to cross. Despite numerous efforts by the main Union forces, the soldiers on the forlorn hope mission remained pinned down, unable to retreat until nightfall. Of the hundred brave men in the assault party, nearly half perished. Seventy-nine of the survivors would be awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor.
His Medal of Honor was awarded on July 9, 1894, and is attributed to Mount Pleasant, Doddridge County, West Virgina.
Shown here is the medal Sergeant Buckley earned during his career.
Medal of Honor
Sergeant Buckley is buried in Fitzgerald, Georgia, in the Evergreen Cemetery. His tombstone and official military grave marker note his Medal of Honor status.
