Died July 1905 Rank Lieutenant | Name Wilmon Blackmar | |
Born July 25, 1841Bristol, Pennsylvania ( 1841-07-25 ) Place of burial Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States Unit 1st West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment | ||
Years of service 1861 to July 8, 1865 Service/branch United States Army | ||
Lieutenant Wilmon W. Blackmar (July 25, 1841 to July 16, 1905) was an American soldier who fought in the American Civil War. Blackmar received the country's highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for his action during the Battle of Five Forks in Virginia on 1 April 1865. He was honored with the award on 23 October 1897.
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Biography
Blackmar was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania. He enlisted into the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry in 1861 and participated in various endeavors in the Western Army and in the Army of the Potomac. After his involvement in the Battle of Antietam he was successively promoted to Corporal and then first lieutenant in charge of Company H of the 1st West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry. It was during this time, on 1 April 1865, that he formed a line and charged into the Confederate forces, causing them to disperse. For this act he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Blackmar mustered out of the army at the conclusion of the war and went out to study law at the Harvard Law School. He served as a lawyer and then, upon retirement, as judge advocate to several Massachusetts governors. He was later elected Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1904 and died in office on 16 July 1905. His remains are interred at the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Medal of Honor citation
At a critical stage of the battle, without orders, led a successful advance upon the enemy.