William Steinmetz


William Steinmetz was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War who received America's highest military decoration the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Biography

William Steinmetz was born in Newport, Kentucky on September 2, 1847. He was a Corporal in the American Civil War. He entered service at Sunman, Indiana and he served in the Union Army in Company G, 83rd Indiana Infantry. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on May 22, 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi. His citation reads "Gallantry in the charge of the "volunteer storming party."
The Vicksburg campaign was waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. It included battles in west-central Mississippi at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Big Black River and numerous smaller battle fields. On the morning of May 22, General Grant launched what he hoped would be a crushing assault against Vicksburg. In the fighting that followed, the Union Infantry was repulsed and thrown back along a three-mile front. The Union Army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, and 97 Union soldiers earned Medals of Honor Private William Steinmetz was one of eighty soldiers cited simply for "Gallantry in the charge of the 'volunteer storming party,' seemingly innocuous wording that actually denotes the fact that Private Steinmetz was at the head of his attacking force where the enemy fire was hottest and the danger the greatest. Steinmetz was one of ten 83rd Indiana soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the Civil War.
Following the failed assault on May 22, a forty-seven-day siege was laid against the city, which finally surrendered to Union forces on July 4.
He died on June 10, 1903 and is buried in Wesleyan Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Medal of Honor citation

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