“I spurred my horse forward and soon came within range of the enemy’s guns. While going at full gallop my horse was killed by grape shot and fell upon me with crushing weight, cracking some of my ribs, injuring me internally and pinioning me to the ground. Here I lay perfectly helpless and suffering intense pain, until Colonel Wells rode up and relieved me from my precarious position. Still the message had to be delivered and although lacerated, in great pain and partly denuded, I proceeded on foot to carry out my mission. I could only advance slowly and with difficulty and had to pass under the very guns of the fort before I reached the colonel of the advancing regiment. I reported to General Ord and was with him when he was wounded on the parapet and with him was taken to the rear.” – Samuel Belton Horne.

It was 29th September 1864 and The Battle Of Chapin’s Farm was at its height as Samuel Belton Horne bravely galloped across the open battle field near Fort Harrison, Virginia. His mission was to deliver an important message to the commanding officer of a regiment that would be soon arriving onto the battlefield. Samuel Belton was, at this stage of the war, Aide De Camp to General Edward Ord, and it was General Ord who had asked Samuel to perform this vital mission. In Samuel’s own words – “I obeyed the order cheerfully.”

The description he gives of the events sound just like a scene from a Hollywood movie, but this was a real life or death situation for this soldier who was born in Ferbane, County Offaly in 1843. The bravery shown by Samuel Belton Horne on this day would eventually bring him the highest military valor award that can be given to any citizen of the United States of America, namely The Medal Of Honor. His actions were made even more astounding when one takes into account that only 4 months earlier, in June 1864, Samuel Belton Horne had been carried from the battlefield at Cold Harbor, after sustaining two serious wounds. Reports state that Samuel could not bear being confined to his hospital bed and so after only 3 months of recovery and while still considered an invalid he was back with his regiment and was heading towards the Confederate stronghold around Petersburg, Virginia and to that dangerous and fateful assignment at Chapin’s Farm.

Further research into this remarkable Offaly man reveals that he had also previously sustained wounds at The Battle Of Antietam in September of 1862. As amazing as it sounds Samuel Belton Horne had been badly wounded three times during the US Civil War, survived each injury, and yet he had chose to fight on in the Union Army. His bravery was recognized at the time by all his commanding officers in many of the reports made of each major battle of the war but interestingly Samuel Horne would not actually receive his award until 1897, more than 33 years after the events described. It wasn’t until the 1890s that Army officers were first allowed to receive the Medal of Honor. This change only came about as a result of several years of lobbying by Civil War Veterans to Congress and The War Department demanding recognition for those soldiers whose heroism had been overlooked during the war. Samuel Belton Horne was one of those soldiers.

General Edward Ord

The Horne Family had emigrated to the United States in 1850 at the height of the Irish Famine and settled in Winsted, Litchfield County in the state of Connecticut. They were by no means a poor family while living in Ireland and in fact were landowners in the Ferbane area. But in what is an interesting and, rarely mentioned phenomenon about the Irish Famine, it was not only the wretched poor of Ireland who had been forced to leave a country that must have seemed doomed to extinction. Many landowners and relatively wealthy families also left Ireland during this period, admittedly not exactly for the same reasons as the poor and destitute, but they presumably also seen Ireland as a place with a very bleak future.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 Samuel Horne would be one of the first in Connecticut to enlist in the Union Army along with two of his Brothers, John and Richard Horne. This eagerness to serve in the army was not surprising as the Horne Family had a longstanding connection to the military life. Two of Samuels Uncles were officers in the British Army in the early 1800s. One of these men, Michael Horne, was said to be present at The Battle Of Waterloo in 1815 under the command of The Duke of Wellington. The military life was undoubtedly in the bloodlines of the Horne Family.

The three Horne Brothers would survive the bloody four year US conflict but it would be Samuel who would serve with the greatest distinction, he would be promoted to Sergeant at an early stage of the war and later further promoted to the rank of Captain in the Union Army.

At the close of the war in 1865 Samuel Belton Horne would settle back into what would prove to be a very varied life in the state of Connecticut. He would first study law and set up his own practice for a few years before declaring bankruptcy in 1868. Despite this setback he would continue to practice law for most of his life. He would have many other business involvements including being editor of a local newspaper called The Winsted Herald and serve as a Director on the board of several companies. He would be involved in the local politics of Litchfield County and the state of Connecticut throughout his lifetime and was a prominent member of the Republican Party. In 1890 Samuel Horne was appointed US Consul at the American Embassy in St. Thomas on the US Virgin Islands and would serve in this role for four years. On returning to Connecticut in 1894 he was appointed as the State Labor Commissioner and again would serve four years in this capacity. In the 1890s he would also be elected as President of The Medal Of Honor Legion, an organization created to preserve the memory of all Medal of Honor winners. Samuel Horne retired from what was a hectic work life in 1899.

Samuel Belton Horne died at 85 years of age on the 18th September in 1928 and is buried in Forest View Cemetery in Winsted, Connecticut. His headstone mentions his Civil War service and his Medal of Honor award. He is buried with his wife Etta and one of his children, Frank, who died while in infancy in 1873. The couple would also have a daughter named Belle who was born in 1872 and died in 1954.

There was only one other very important item in the life of this brave soldier to clarify. If you check on many websites today such as Wikipedia and The Congressional Medal of Honor Society they all give Samuel B Horne’s place of birth as Beleek in County Fermanagh which caused us quite a bit of confusion. Baptism and birth records for the period in question in Ireland can sometimes be difficult to track down and it was proving almost impossible to find out for sure where this soldier was born.

Americasoffalyheroes.com can finally clarify this important fact.

In an amazing stroke of luck, which doesn’t often happen, in December of 1899 Samuel Belton Horne applied for a passport. In this document he “solemnly swears” that his place of birth was indeed Ferbane in Kings County (Offaly was then named Kings County).

That same document also makes reference to his service in the “War of Rebellion”. The details Samuel has given here clearly clarify that this is the same soldier who bravely galloped across that battlefield in September of 1864 and in doing so won the only Medal Of Honor awarded to an Offaly soldier for service in the US Civil War.

Samuel Belton Horne was an Offaly man and a very brave one at that.