James Gardner Research Paper

James Daniel Gardner, born on September 16th, 1839 in Gloucester, Virginia, was a union army soldier during the Civil War. Later in James Gardner’s life, he eventually earned the medal of honor and was amongst many of the first black troops.

There is very little information on James Gardner’s early childhood, but James was an oyster seller way before he enlisted into the U.S. army. At the time, James was living in Yorktown, Virginia. Virginia was a free state during the civil war, so James was born a free man rather than a slave.
At the age of nineteen, James Daniel Gardner enlisted into the army September 15, 1863. He was known for being one of the first black individual to receive the medal of honor for his courageous act. Not only did he receive the medal of honor, but he also was amongst some of the first people to join Company 1 of the 36th regiment U.S. colored troops. In his three years of service, James Daniel Gardner was promoted to a sergeant from a private. He came out of the army on September 20th, 1866. …show more content…
Gardner was awarded with a medal of honor. But, for what?
The story of how James D. Gardner won a medal:

It was September 29, 1864. I had been here since dawn with the rest of a division of black troops. We were preparing mentally and physically for the attack that we had been planning for months. Every part of my body was pulsing with adrenaline, a foreboding feeling was drilled deep down in my stomach. “Will this plan work?” I thought.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this...” I muttered to one of the other