US soldier receives highest award 151 years later

November 07, 2014 01:39

An American soldier whose last stand heroics helped alter the fate of his country 151 years ago was awarded the nation's highest military honor today by President Barack Obama.

The Medal of Honor was posthumously awarded to First Lt Alonzo H Cushing for ordering his artillery battery to continue firing its cannons during a pivotal all-out assault in the American Civil War.

Cushing was cool and competent under fire and said he would "fight it out or die in the attempt" as 10,000 southern rebels charged his position, Obama said during the award ceremony at the White House.

The 22-year-old kept directing cannon fire despite being shot twice in the stomach and shoulder. He would die during the attack in 1863.

Obama said the award was an acknowledgement of one of the "thousands of unknown young soldiers, committing unsung acts of heroism" who saved the nation during the country's internal conflict.

Half-a-million soldiers were killed in the American Civil War, that saw the northern states triumph over the slave-owning south, ending slavery in the US.

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