Description
Spectacular signed carte view of Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Clay of the 58th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Cecil would muster with the 58th Pennsylvania Infantry in January, 1862, receiving a commission to captain on March 1. He was given command of Company K and lead the unit through service in Tidewater, Virginia, and North Carolina from 1862 to 1864. As General Ulysses Grant’s Overland Campaign pushed closer to Richmond, Virginia, the 58th Pennsylvania was assigned to General Benjamin Butler’s James River Operations in 1864. As part of the 18th Corps under General Edward Ord, Clay and the 58th participated in the assault on Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864. It was for action here that Cecil would be awarded the Medal Of Honor. During the attack, Clay led his regiment into the fort, and was wounded in both arms resulting in the loss of one of the limbs. His official citation for the act of bravery reads “Led his regiment in the charge, carrying the colors of another regiment, and when severely wounded in the right arm, incurring loss of same, he shifted the colors to the left hand, which also became disabled by a gunshot wound.”. The day following the battle, Clay would be promoted to major, though the severity of his wounds necessitated the amputation of one arm. His promotion to lieutenant colonel would come two month later with a brevet to brigadier general in March, 1865. In Cecil’s own words of the action for which he received the distinguished award, “Side by side we two climbed the parapet, until we could look over into the fort. No sooner had we raised our heads than a ball struck Bourke, cutting a gash across his forehead. He knocked against me, and we rolled back into the ditch together. Bourke was unable to see, as the blood was running into his eyes, so he gave me the colors and with the aid of a sword which I had plunged into the embankment as a footstep he hoisted me up on the parapet once more. In the meantime the division was stubbornly fighting its way into the fort and the rebels were beginning to retreat when one of them turned and fired two shots at me, drilling a couple of holes in my right arm. Shifting the colors to my left hand, I continued to lead the advance until that hand was shot through also, and I had to stop and lay the colors up against the parapet. Some of the One hundred and eighty-eighth came up at this moment and I handed them their flag, which I had carried throughout the entire charge.” This example is beautifully signed on the reverse by Cecil and dates prior to the action at Fort Harrison. The war hero would pass away in 1907 and was interred in the hallowed ground of the Arlington National Cemetery.
