Waterloo had a Medal of Honor accredited to it, yet few people can name the Civil War soldier who earned it. His name is not taught in the schools, and there is no street named after him. That may seem strange, but there is more to this story.

We are talking about the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military award. You often may hear it called the Congressional Medal of Honor, yet that is not its official name. It is granted in the name of Congress.

Waterloo’s soldier was Eugene M. Tinkham, a corporal in Company H of the 148th New York Infantry. He was cited for extraordinary heroism on June 3, 1864 in action at Cold Harbor, Va.: “Though himself wounded, Corporal Tinkham voluntarily left the rifle pits, crept out between the lines and, exposed to the severe fire of the enemy’s guns at close range, brought within the lines two wounded and helpless comrades.”

Most of us have no grasp of the enormity or ferocity of Civil War battles. Television shows give the impression of a few hundred soldiers on each side shooting inaccurately at each other during an accidental confrontation. Cold Harbor was a 12-day battle with Gen. Grant launching a major assault against Gen. Lee’s entrenched troops. Some 170,000 soldiers were involved; there were 13,000 Union casualties compared to 5,000 Confederate. Gen. Grant would later admit this was an ill-advised offensive and the only attack he wished he had never ordered.

The 148th Regiment was organized in Geneva on Sept. 14, 1862 and was sent to Norfolk, Va., for garrison and guard duty. In early 1864 it was in action at Richmond, Drury’s Bluff, then Cold Harbor. It was at the siege of Petersburg for almost a year before pursuing Lee and was present for the surrender at Appomattox. The unit mustered out in June 1865. Jeremiah Gahan, whose wife Mary is the namesake for Waterloo’s Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War chapter, also was a member of CoH of the 148th.

So did Cpl. Tinkham get a parade and accolades upon returning to Waterloo? No, for a couple of reasons.

Eugene Tinkham was born in Sprague, Conn., in 1842 and died near there in 1909. His gravestone cites his final rank of sergeant and his Medal of Honor status. We don’t know if he ever returned to Waterloo after mustering out. Not only that, but the Medal of Honor was not awarded to him until April 1898.

The 1850 census has young Tinkham at home in Sprague with several brothers and sisters. His father was engaged in manufacturing, likely textiles. That might explain how and why 18-year-old Eugene was working as a spinner at the Seneca Knitting Mill in 1862, according to a community directory. He enlisted in Waterloo when the 148th mustered in. Though we may never have honored him, Eugene M. Tinkham brought honor to himself, Waterloo and the 148th Regiment.

Eugene M Tinkham