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Contact Info
Home Town England
Last Address George's Date of Passing and Burial Site are yet to be determined.
SEAMAN USN - USS MAGNOLIA
CIVIL WAR MEDAL OF HONOR
Awarded for actions during the Civil War
For The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Seaman George Pyne, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving as Seaman on board the U.S.S. Magnolia, St. Marks, Florida, 5 and 6 March 1865. Serving with the Army in charge of Navy howitzers during the attack on St. Marks and throughout this fierce engagement, Seaman Pyne, although wounded, made remarkable efforts in assisting transport of the gun, and his coolness and determination in courageously standing by his gun while under the fire of the enemy were a credit to the service to which he belonged.
General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 59 (June 22, 1865) Action Date: March 05 & 6, 1865 Service: Navy Rank: Seaman Division: U.S.S. Magnolia
Other Comments:
Pyne joined the U.S. Navy from the state of New York in 1862. By March 5, 1865, he was serving as a seaman on the USS Magnolia. On that day and the next, he accompanied a Union Army force during the Battle of Natural Bridge near St. Marks, Florida. Although wounded, he helped transport and fire a naval howitzer throughout the engagement under heavy Confederate fire. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor three months later, on June 22, 1865.
Description The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America. The Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U.S. history.
Among the 34 U.S. states in February 1861, seven Southern slave states individually declared their secession from the U.S. to form the Confederate States of America. War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U.S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to include eleven states; it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona and New Mexico (called Confederate Arizona). The Confederacy was never diplomatically recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North. The war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865.
The war had its origin in the factious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. Four years of intense combat left 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers dead, a higher number than the number of American military deaths in World War I and World War II combined, and much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed (most of them by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation). The Reconstruction Era (1863–1877) overlapped and followed the war, with the process of restoring national unity, strengthening the national government, and granting civil rights to freed slaves throughout the country.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
April / 1861
To Month/Year
April / 1865
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories PYNE, GEORGE Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1841, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: As seaman on board the U.S.S. Magnolia, St. Marks, Fla., 5 and 6 March 1865. Serving with the Army in charge of Navy howitzers during the attack on St. Marks and throughout this fierce engagement, Pyne, although wounded, made remarkable efforts in assisting transport of the gun, and his coolness and determination in courageously standing by his gun while under the fire of the enemy were a credit to the service to which he belonged.
