James Brown (sailor)


James H. Brown was an officer in the United States Navy who served as quartermaster aboard the during the American Civil War. He received his nation's highest award for bravery during combat, the U.S. Medal of Honor, for his actions aboard ship during the Union Navy's May 4, 1863 attack on Fort DeRussy in an attempt to disrupt the hold by Confederates over the Red River region of Louisiana. That award was conferred on April 16, 1864.

Formative years

Brown was born in Rochester, New York in 1826.

Civil War

Brown enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. In 1863, he was serving as quartermaster aboard the 378-ton, screw-propelled wooden gunboat during the U.S. Navy's attack on Fort DeRussy, Louisiana on May 4. Despite sustaining heavy enemy fire that day, which included the projection of a ball from a 32-pound cannon through the wheelhouse of the Albatross which blew off the ship's wheel and exposed the ship's relieving tackles, the ship's officers and enlisted men were still able to capture the fort's heavy works and inflict serious damage on two Confederate steamships, the CSS Grand Duke and Mary T. For his efforts that day, which involved operating the relieving tackles under withering fire in order to move his ship out of harm's way, Brown was later awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. The award of Brown's Medal of Honor was announced via General Order No. 32 on April 16, 1864:
Awarding medals of honor to—

Medal of Honor citation