William Harvey Carney - Biography

Biography

Carney was born simply as "William," a slave in Norfolk, Virginia on February 29, 1840. He ended up escaping through the Underground Railroad, and found his father living in Massachusetts. The two later bought the rest of their family out of slavery. Once William was free, he enlisted with the Massachusetts Regiment and met a white man named William Carney, who gave him his last name so he could enlist.

Carney served with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as a Sergeant. He took part in the July 18, 1863, assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. He received the Medal Of Honor for saving the American flag and planting it on the parapat despite being wounded several times. Recognizing the troops had to retreat under fire, Carney struggled back across the battlefield, being wounded twice more. He eventually made his way back to the Union lines, and turned over the colors to another survivor of the 54th, modestly saying "Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!"

Read more about this topic:  William Harvey Carney

Famous quotes containing the word biography:

    As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.
    James Boswell (1740–95)