Colonel 1st North Carolina Infantry

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1821-89) Born at Hill's Iron Works in York District, South Carolina. He graduated in the West Point class of 1842, and fought in the Mexican War earning rank of brevet captain for for bravery at the Battle of Contreras and the Battle of Churubusco, and brevetted major for gallantry at the Battle of Chapultepec. He was the brother-in-law of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Before the War Between the States he served as superintendent of the North Carolina Military Institute. At the outbreak of the conflict he was commissioned Colonel of the 1st North Carolina Infantry. Soon afterwards he was appointed general, and on June 8, 1861, won the first land battle of the war at Big Bethel Church, Va. He fought with distinction at Yorktown, Williamsburg, the Seven Days battles, 2nd Manassas, South Mountain and Sharpsburg. While The Army of Northern Virginia was invading Pennsylvania and fighting at Gettysburg, General D.H. Hill defended Richmond and was promoted to lieutenant general on July 11, 1863. He then fought with the Army of Tennessee, commanding a corps at Chickamauga. In 1864, he served at Petersburg, Va., and ended the war as a division commander under General Joseph E. Johnston in the 1865 Carolina's campaign. From 1866 to 1869, Hill edited the magazine, "The Land We Love," at Charlotte, North Carolina, which dealt with social and historical subjects and had a great influence in the former slave states. In 1877, he became one of the first presidents of the University of Arkansas, a post that he held until 1884, and, in 1885, he became president of the Military and Agricultural College of Milledgeville, Georgia, until August 1889, when he resigned due to failing health. General Hill died at Charlotte, N.C., the following month, and was buried in Davidson College Cemetery.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 1/2 x 4 1/8 card. Half view with arms folded across his chest. Hill is wearing his double breasted Confederate general's frock coat. Back mark: Geo. S. Cook Photography, No. 913, Main Street, Richmond, Va. Post war card. This was made from an early war time pose. The original is in the Cook Collection, at the Valentine Museum, in Richmond, Va. There is an old newspaper clipped glued to the reverse of the mount. It reads: Ex-Confederate General D.H. Hill died at Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday. He was born in South Carolina in 1821, graduated at West Point in 1842, and entered the army as an artillery officer, but was transferred to the infantry in 1847. He served with distinction in the Mexican War and retired from the army in 1849. He espoused the Southern cause, and from a Colonel speedily became a Major-General. He was at South Mountain, Antietam and Chickamauga. Period ink ID of General B.J.D. Irwin, from whose personal collection this cdv came from, on the reverse, "Gen. D.H. Hill, C.S.A." Extremely rare. In my nearly 47 years in business, and 60 years of collecting Civil War memorabilia this is only the second General D.H. Hill CDV that I ever owned.

History of United States Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin


Surgeon & General Irwin was the first United States Medal of Honor Recipient by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1830-1917) Born in County Roscommon, Ireland, he immigrated with his parents to the United States in the 1840s. He attended New York University from 1848 to 1849, and then served as a private in the New York Militia. In 1850, he entered Castleton Medical College, and he later transferred to New York Medical College, where he graduated in 1852.

He served as a surgeon and physician at the State Emigrant Hospital on Ward's Island, NYC, until his appointment as assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army in 1856. He was an assistant army surgeon during the Apache Wars, and was the first Medal of Honor recipient chronologically by date of action. His actions on February 13, 1861, at Apache Pass, Arizona, are the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded! The citation on his medal of honor reads; "Voluntarily took command of troops and attacked and defeated hostile Indians he met on the way. Surgeon Irwin volunteered to go to the rescue of 2d Lt. George N. Bascom, 7th U.S. Infantry, who, with 60 men, was trapped by Chiricahua Apaches under Cochise. Irwin and 14 men, not having horses, began the 100-mile march riding mules. After fighting and capturing Indians, recovering stolen horses and cattle, he reached Bascom's column and helped break his siege."

Cochise, the Apache Indian chief, and a group of Apache warriors were accused of kidnapping a boy and a small group of U.S. soldiers in the Arizona Territory after the Army had captured Cochise's brother and nephews. When the Army refused to make a prisoner exchange, Cochise killed his prisoners. Soldiers then killed Cochise's brother and nephews. 2nd Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom led a group of 60 men from the 7th U.S. Infantry after Cochise but was soon besieged, prompting a rescue mission by the army. In response to the siege of Bascom and his men, Irwin set out on a rescue mission with 14 men of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. He was able to catch up with the Apaches at Apache Pass in present day Arizona. He strategically placed his small unit around Cochise and his men, tricking the Apache leader into thinking that he had a much larger army with him. The Apaches fled and Bascom and his men were saved. Bascom and his men joined Irwin and together they were able to track Cochise into the mountains & rescued the young boy that Cochise had captured.

The Medal of Honor did not exist during the time of the "Bascom Incident," and would not be established until a year later in 1862. However, the actions of Irwin were well remembered, and he was awarded the Medal of Honor just prior to his retirement. Irwin's actions were the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded, predating the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Irwin subsequently served with the Union army during the Civil War, and was promoted to captain in August 1861, and the next year was appointed medical director under Major General William "Bull" Nelson. He improvised one of the first field hospitals used by the U.S. Army at the Battle of Shiloh, on April 7, 1862. He was captured during the Battle of Richmond, Ky., while attempting to save the wounded General Nelson. He was promoted to major in September 1862, and after his release from a Rebel prison he became medical director in the Army of the Southwest. From 1863 to 1865, he was superintendent of the military hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and in March of 1865, he was brevetted to the rank of colonel. He was a companion of the California Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and the Order of the Indian Wars of the United States. After the Civil War, Irwin served as a senior medical officer at several U.S. army posts, including West Point from 1873 to 1878. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1885, to colonel in August 1890, and to brigadier general in April 1904. He died in Ontario, Canada, on December 15, 1917, and is buried in the West Point Cemetery, at the U.S. Military Academy, New York.

His son George LeRoy Irwin, graduated from West Point in 1889, and served in World War I, becoming a Major General in the U.S. Army.

His grandson Stafford LeRoy Irwin, graduated from West Point in 1915, and served in World War II, and became a Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army.

His daughter, Amy Irwin Addams McCormick, was a nurse with the American Red Cross and served during World War I.

General Irwin was an admirer and collector of photographs, and he put together a very large, and superb collection of Union and Confederate images. Interestingly, he collected photographs of both Rebel and Yankee alike. I have owned several famous military photograph albums before and never came across one that collected images from both sides of the rebellion. He numbered each individual image, and wrote a brief historical notation on each one. The collection was split up by another dealer, and by the time I found out about it, I was still very fortunate to be able to acquire about one third of his superb Civil War image collection. Each image is rare because it is "one of a kind" having come from the Irwin collection!