Preston County soldier earned medal for Civil War actions
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KINGWOOD - The Veterans Memorial located in the Preston County Courthouse yard has a brick the members of Vietnam Veterans 977 Chapter paid for themselves. The brick honors one of the very first Medal of Honor recipients - and he was from Preston County.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society describes the Medal of Honor as the U.S.’s highest award for military valor in action. And while over 150 years have passed since its inception, the meaning behind the medal has never tarnished. Etched within are the very values that each recipient displayed in the moments that mattered -- bravery, courage, sacrifice, integrity. A deep love of country and a desire to always do what is right. It’s a distinguished award presented only to the deserving.
Cpl. Emisire Shahan was awarded the medal May 3, 1865, for actions performed at the Battle of Sailor’s Creek in Virginia. Shahan, also known as Amaziah Shahan, was the son of Samuel and Rebecca Wolfe Shahan. He was born August 14, 1843, in Preston County, one of 3 siblings and 3 half siblings. He married Rebecca Miller in 1864 and Melvina H. Knight in 1894, and fathered a total of 9 children, according to Find-A-Grave.
Shahan enlisted in the Army as a corporal on July 1, 1861, and was mustered into Company A of the 1st West Virginia Cavalry. On May 6, 1885, at the battle near Farmville, Virginia, Shahan captured the flag of the Confederate 7th Georgia Infantry.
History.org, describes the Battles of Sailor's Creek (there were three of them) as follows: The battles were fought on April 6, 1865, part of the Appomattox Campaign on the fourth day of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's retreat from Petersburg during the American Civil War. Union General-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant had besieged the railroad hub south of Richmond for 10 months before finally breaking through at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1. Both Richmond and Petersburg fell the next day, and Lee set his Army of Northern Virginia in retreat to the west, harassed the whole way by Union cavalry and quickly marching infantry.
On April 6, a gap opened up between Confederate troops under James Longstreet and those under Richard H. Anderson, Richard S. Ewell and John B. Gordon. Union cavalry and infantry attacked Anderson at Marshall's Crossroads. At the same time, the Union Sixth Corps attacked and overwhelmed Ewell after crossing the rain-swollen Sailor's Creek. A later attack against Gordon was stopped by darkness, but by day's end, the Confederates had suffered more than 8,000 casualties, including the capture of Ewell and eight other generals. Lee, watching from a hilltop, wondered if his whole army hadn't dissolved. He would surrender to Grant three days later.
According to CMOHS.org, Shahan’s Medal of Honor Citation reads:
"The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal Emisire Shahan, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 6 April 1865, while serving with Company A, 1st West Virginia Cavalry, in action at Deatonsville (Sailor’s Creek), Virginia, for capture of flag of 76th Georgia Infantry (Confederate States of America)."
Shahan is buried in the Masonic Cemetery, Elma, Grays Harbor County, Washington, in Block 134, lot 4, according to Find-A-Grave.