James Martin

James Martin II (1826 – October 29, 1895) was a native of Ireland who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the mid-19th century. Rising up through the ranks from private to sergeant while fighting for the federal government of the United States (Union) during the American Civil War, he displayed conspicuous bravery on August 5, 1864, while serving aboard the USS Richmond. Operating one of that ship's guns under heavy enemy fire for two hours during the Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama, he helped to damage the CSS Tennessee and destroy artillery batteries of the Confederate States Army at Fort Morgan, even as the enemy's shell and shot damaged his ship and killed several of his shipmates. In recognition of his gallantry, he was presented with the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest award for valor, on December 31, 1864.

Martin was born in 1826 in Derry in the Kingdom of Ireland. He emigrated sometime before July 1847 when he enrolled for military service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On April 18, 1860, he became a naturalized American citizen by action of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

At the age of 21, James Martin enlisted for military service with the United States Marine Corps. After enrolling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 9, 1847, he was designated as a private and assigned to land duties there prior to transfer to the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. (July 14) and Roanoke, Virginia (August 10). Assigned to a Marine Detachment aboard the USS Brandywine beginning on August 30, he remained with that ship until transferred to the Marine barracks in Brooklyn, New York on December 14, 1850. Reassigned to the USS North Carolina on January 23, 1851, he re-enlisted on May 9 of that year, and served aboard the North Carolina (or the USS Mississippi) before transferring to the USS Preble on August 4, 1851. Reassigned to duties at the Philadelphia Naval Barracks on October 30, 1852, he then continued to serve on land in Washington, D.C. and Norfolk, Virginia until assigned to the USS Mississippi on November 22 of that year. Reassigned to land duties at the Brooklyn Naval Barracks on April 26, 1855, he re-enlisted for another tour of duty on May 9, and was transferred briefly to Roanoke before being reassigned to the USS Potomac (July 3), where he remained until transferred to the USS Wabash on August 18, 1856. Stationed aboard ship until November of that year, he then moved back and forth between the naval barracks in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C., until reassigned to the USS Niagara on April 2, 1857. Assigned to land duties at the Brooklyn Naval Barracks again beginning December 2 of that year, he was then reassigned to the USS Constellation from June 11 to August 6, 1858, when he was stationed at the Boston Naval Barracks prior to reassignment on the USS North Carolina through May 10, 1959. Re-enlisting again the next day, he was transferred briefly to the Boston Naval Barracks, and was then stationed on the USS Constellation from June 13 of that year through most of the first year of the American Civil War.

Assigned briefly to land duties at the naval barracks in Portsmouth and Brooklyn, he was then reassigned to the USS Richmond on January 31, 1862, where he continued to serve until transferred to the USS Pensacola on May 18, 1863. Returned to land duties in August of that year, he re-enlisted again and was promoted to the rank of sergeant on August 26, 1863, and returned to the USS Richmond. Engaged with other Union soldiers and sailors in attacks on Fort St. Philip, Fort Jackson and the Chalmette batteries in Louisiana under the command of Admiral David Farragut from April 16 to 28, 1862, Martin was also present for the resulting surrender of New Orleans to Union forces, as well as the attack on Vicksburg, Mississippi in late June and early July that same year.

Still attached to Farragut's squadron in 1864, which had been engaged in a blockade of Mobile, Alabama since November 1, 1863, and serving as a sergeant stationed aboard the USS Richmond, he performed the actions for which he would later be awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. As captain of a gun during the Battle of Mobile Bay on the morning of August 5, 1864, he displayed "coolness and good conduct" as he continued firing for two hours, helping to damage the CSS Tennessee and destroy the batteries at Fort Morgan while under heavy enemy fire which damaged his ship and killed several of his fellow crewmen.

Afterward, he and his Richmond shipmates continued to occupy Mobile Bay. In May 1865, he transferred to the USS Vincennes, served briefly on land at the marine barracks in Pensacola, Florida, beginning July 12, and was then reassigned to the USS Memphis on December 26, 1865.

Post-war, Martin continued to serve aboard the USS Memphis until reassigned to land duties from February 3 to April 3, 1866. After being transferred to the USS Idaho, he continued to alternate between life aboard ship and on land, punctuated by re-enlistments, for the remainder of his military career. Duty assignments included: the USS Madawaska, beginning June 27, 1866; the USS Contoocook, beginning March 14, 1868; and the USS Vandalia in 1871. After having achieved the rank of quartermaster sergeant and having completed 31 years, 7 months and 23 days of military service, he was honorably discharged on March 27, 1879. Military records at the time of his pension application in 1881 described him as being 5' 9-1/2" tall with brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion, and also noted that he was a native of Ireland who had been a farmer at the time of his enrollment in Philadelphia.

Records from the U.S. Navy Department's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, which were compiled for Martin's Navy Survivors' Certificate file, documented that Martin sustained multiple service-related injuries and ailments during his naval career, including: rheumatism (first documented in the late 1840s); a subluxation of his left ankle (1858); hip pain and rheumatism (1861); a contusion sustained on April 12, 1862, when his "arm was squeezed in working a gun, whilst at quarters", which resulted in a nine-day admission to a U.S. Navy Hospital that year and was linked by a Navy doctor in 1879 to the atrophy of his bicep (via the notation "the result of an injury to the arm while loading a gun on board the 'Richmond', in April, 1862"); a sprained ankle (1874); a severe fall down the stairs while in the line of duty at a naval barracks (1875); and anemia attributed to his "long and continuous service in the Marine Corps" (1879).

Unmarried, Martin resided at the U.S. Naval Home in Philadelphia during the 1880s and 1890s.

By the time he was in his 60s, Martin had developed cancer. Following his death at the U.S. Naval Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 1895, he was buried in the Naval Asylum section of that city's Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 1826, Derry, Ireland. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation:

As captain of a gun on board the USS Richmond during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Despite damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks, Sgt. Martin fought his gun with skill and courage throughout the furious 2-hour battle which resulted in the surrender of the rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.