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==Biography== William Harvey Carney was born as a [[History of slavery in Virginia|slave]] in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], on February 29, 1840.<ref name=contemporary-black-biography>{{cite journal|title=William H. Carney|journal=Contemporary Black Biography|volume=104|url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1606005738&source=Bookmark&u=wash84213&jsid=1b02c9e36bab1113d816f74b1e3cfd8f|access-date=1 March 2015|publisher=Gale|location=Detroit|date=8 March 2013}}</ref> How he made his way to freedom is not certain. According to most accounts, he escaped through the [[Underground Railroad]], and joined his father in [[Massachusetts]]. Other members of their family were freed by purchase or by the death of their master.<ref name=contemporary-black-biography /><ref name=caagri /> === Civil War === [[File:William Harvey Carney c1864.jpg|thumb|left|Carney c. 1864]] Carney joined the [[54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry]] in March 1863<ref name=contemporary-black-biography /> and was later promoted to [[sergeant]] due to his heroism and actions during the battle of Fort Wagner.<ref name="Lange"> [https://www.army.mil/article/181896/meet_sgt_william_carney_the_first_african_american_medal_of_honor_recipient Meet Sgt. William Carney: The first African-American Medal of Honor recipient], By Katie Lange, DoD News, Defense Media Activity, February 10, 2017, official website of the United States Army. </ref><ref> Hold the Flag High, by Catherine Clinton. Harper Collins, 2004></ref> He took part in the July 18, 1863, assault on [[Fort Wagner]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]].<ref name=notable-black-american-men>{{cite journal|title=William H. Carney|journal=Notable Black American Men, Book II|access-date=1 March 2015|url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1622000067&source=Bookmark&u=wash84213&jsid=5dfe8609fe906d6b5f2cb761cd10e448|publisher=Gale|date=12 October 1998}}</ref> His actions there ultimately earned him the [[Medal of Honor]]. When the [[color guard]] was killed, Carney retrieved the U.S. flag and marched forward with it, despite serious wounds.<ref name=contemporary-black-biography /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Marshall Jr.|first1=Tyrone C.|title=First African-American Medal of Honor Recipient Safeguarded Flag|url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA319553100&source=Bookmark&u=wash84213&jsid=2e3c8f942bf7bf45794042b901c2a567|access-date=1 March 2015|agency=State News Service|date=19 February 2013}}</ref> When the Union troops were forced to retreat under fire, he struggled back across the battlefield (he was shot in both his right arm and leg as well as his chest, with the last shot fired barely hitting his head),<ref name="sheinkin">{{cite book |author=[[Steve Sheinkin|Sheinkin, Steve]] |title=Two Miserable Presidents: The Amazing, Terrible, and Totally True Story of the Civil War |date=2008 |publisher=Square Fish |location=New York |isbn=978-1-250-07578-9 |page=161 |edition=This Square Fish Edition: 2015}}</ref> and, eventually returning to his own lines and turning over the colors to another survivor of the 54th, saying, "Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!"<ref name=caagri>{{cite web | url = http://www.caagri.org/carney.html | title = William Harvey Carney (1840β1908) | access-date = 1 March 2015 | last = Carney | first = William Harvey | publisher = The Center for African American Genealogical Research, Inc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224163506/http://www.caagri.org/carney.html |archive-date=24 December 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He received an [[honorable discharge]] due to disability from his wounds in June 1864.<ref name=contemporary-black-biography /><ref>{{cite book|title=Massachusetts soldiers, sailors, and marines in the civil war|date=1931|publisher=Norwood Press|location=Norwood, MA|page=670|url=https://archive.org/stream/massachusettssol41931mass#page/670/mode/2up|access-date=1 March 2015}}</ref> ===Post-war=== After his discharge, Carney returned to [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]], and took a job maintaining the city's streetlights. He then delivered mail for 32 years.<ref name=notable-black-american-men /><ref name="usps">{{cite book|last1=Rubio|author-link=Philip F. Rubio|first1=Philip F.|title=There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality|url=https://archive.org/details/theresalwayswork00rubi|url-access=registration|date=2010|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0807895733|pages=[https://archive.org/details/theresalwayswork00rubi/page/n471 16]β18}}</ref> He was a founding vice president of the New Bedford Branch 18 of the [[National Association of Letter Carriers]], in 1890.<ref name="usps" /> He married Susannah Williams, and they had a daughter, Clara Heronia.<ref name=notable-black-american-men /> He spent a few years in [[California]], then returned again in 1869. Carney received his Medal of Honor on May 23, 1900, nearly 37 years after the events at Fort Wagner (more than half of such awards from the Civil War were presented 20 or more years after the fact).<ref name=caagri /> 20 African American men received the medal before him, but because his battle actions happened earlier than the others, some have incorrectly cited him as the first to receive the medal.<ref name=contemporary-black-biography /><ref name=caagri /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Henig|first1=Gerald S.|title=Glory at Battery Wagner: William H. Carney became the First Black Soldier to earn the Medal of Honor|journal=Civil War Times|date=June 2009|url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Journals&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA213079650&source=Bookmark&u=wash84213&jsid=31f065d66ed11b3a3a2e682e458c3c37|access-date=1 March 2015}}</ref> His citation reads: <blockquote> When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.<ref name=AMOHW>{{Cite web |access-date=1 March 2015 |url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214025428/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = December 14, 2007 |title = Medal of Honor recipients |work = American Civil War (AβL) |publisher =[[United States Army Center of Military History]] |date = July 16, 2007}}</ref></blockquote> In 1901, shortly after his medal was awarded, a song was published about his daring exploits: "[[Boys the Old Flag Never Touched the Ground]]". Captain [[Luis F. Emilio]], the most junior captain of the 54th, who had been left in charge during the attack on Battery Wagner by the deaths or wounding of all of his superiors, in his 1891 book ''A Brave Black Regiment'' wrote: "It is due, however, to the following-named enlisted men that they be recorded above their fellows for especial merit: [1st] Sgt. [[Robert John Simmons|Robert J. Simmons]], [Col.] Sgt. William H. Carney..."<ref>{{cite book |last=Emilio |first=Luis F. |date=1891 |title=A Brave Black Regiment: The History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863β1865 |location=Boston |publisher=The Boston Book Company}}</ref> Carney died at the Boston City Hospital on December 9, 1908, of complications from an elevator accident at the Massachusetts State House, where he worked for the Department of State. His body [[Lying in repose|lay in repose]] for one day at the undertaking rooms of Walden Banks, 142 Lenox Street, at the wish of his wife and daughter. He was buried in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery in [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]]. Engraved on his tombstone is an image of the Medal of Honor.<ref>[https://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20080524/news/805240329 ''South Coast Today'']</ref>
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