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William W Fraser

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Allegiance
  
United States

Years of service
  
1862 - 1865


Rank
  
Corporal

Name
  
William Fraser

William W. Fraser

Born
  
March 7, 1844 Burn Brac, Scotland (
1844-03-07
)

Died
  
February 9, 1915(1915-02-09) (aged 70) California

Place of burial
  
Odd Fellows Cemetery, Los Angeles, California

Service/branch
  
United States Army Union Army

William W. Fraser (March 7, 1844 – February 9, 1915) was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Siege of Vicksburg on May 22, 1863. His surname is sometimes spelled Frazier.

Contents

Fraser joined the 97th Illinois Infantry in August 1862, and was mustered out in July 1865.

Union assault

On May 22, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered an assault on the Confederate heights at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The plan called for a storming party of volunteers to build a bridge across a moat and plant scaling ladders against the enemy embankment in advance of the main attack. The volunteers knew the odds were against survival and the mission was called, in nineteenth century vernacular, a "forlorn hope". Only single men were accepted as volunteers and even then, twice as many men as needed came forward and were turned away. The assault began in the early morning following a naval bombardment.

The Union soldiers came under enemy fire immediately and were pinned down in the ditch they were to cross. Despite repeated attacks by the main Union body, the men of the forlorn hope were unable to retreat until nightfall. Of the 150 men in the storming party, nearly half were killed. Seventy-nine of the survivors were awarded the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor citation

For gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863.

References

William W. Fraser Wikipedia