Aaron Anderson (1811 - 1886)

Born 1811 in Rogers, Benton, Arkansas, United States

Died 9 Jan 1886 at about age 75 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: US Black Heritage Project WikiTree [send private message]

Aaron Anderson is a part of US Black history. Join: US Black Heritage Project Discuss: black_heritage

Biography

Aaron Anderson is Notable.

Aaron Anderson was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Landsman Aaron Anderson served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: April, 17, 1863
Mustered out: 1865
Side: USA
Regiment(s): Union Navy

Aaron Anderson or Sanderson was a Union Navy sailor during the American Civil War and the first African-American to be a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

Aaron was born in 1811 in Arkansas and later lived in Pennsylvania where he worked as a cook until he joined the Navy at age 52. He was assigned to the USS Wyandank where he participated in blocking Confederate forces from getting supplies along the Potomac River. Shortly before the war ended he participated in a mission to attack a group of Confederate troops attempting to get supplies. In the process they came under heavy fire which destroyed many of their weapons and severely damaged their boats. For his actions he was presented with the Medal of Honor. A short time later he left at the end of his enlistment and little else is known about him after he left the Navy.

He passed away in 1886. Burial was in the Eden Cemetery, Collingdale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96208707/aaron-anderson : accessed 21 June 2022), memorial page for Aaron Anderson (1811–9 Jan 1886), Find A Grave: Memorial #96208707, citing Eden Cemetery, Collingdale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave .

• Wikipedia contributors, "Aaron Anderson," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Anderson_(Medal_of_Honor) (accessed September 27, 2020).
• Hanna, Charles W. (2002). African American recipients of the Medal of Honor: a biographical dictionary, Civil War through Vietnam War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 20–21, 43. ISBN 0-7864-1355-7.