I sent you this Ingersoll family information last year and would like to add a correction and addition per a recent VFW magazine dated May 2013.
The correction was made in the article that you printed – rank Capt was actually Cpl. Per VFW magazine article "Boys In Battle" – Medal of Honor.
"James Machon displayed bravery during the Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala., on Aug. 5, 1864. His vessel, the USS Brooklyn, was part of an 18-ship squadron attacking Fort Morgan. The 16-year-old remained steadfast at his post in the immediate vicinity of the shell whips, devices used to lift artillery shells up to the gun deck. The area had been cleared twice of men by bursting shells. Wounded and sent below for treatment, Machon returned to his post and took charge of his gun until he was wounded a second time. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions. Sadly, his wounds left him totally disabled."
Please note: the last sentence of the attached 100 year old, hand written piece of paper recently found in a leather bound case belonging to my Great Aunt Ida May Ingersoll – Mother's side. Her husband, Absalom Nelson Ingersoll of Shrub Oak (NY), served as a Marine on the United States Brooklyn throughout the Civil War.
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Original Submission
This is the original Transfer Card of my great Grandfather, mother's side, Marine Capt. A. N. Ingersoll from Ossining, N.Y. dated 2 February 1903.
He joined the Marines in Westchester County, New York, on April 4th 1862 as a Private, and was discharged as a Captain on April 4th 1866 after 4 years of honorable service during the Civil War. After he left the service he was a guard at Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, N.Y. He is buried in the local cemetery there along with other members of our family.
I was a Marine from 1964 to 1968, having served in Viet-Nam in '66 and '67 with H&S Co., 3rd Srv. Bat., FLC – Alpha at Red Beach north of Danang, and then at Phu-Bai. For my great Grandfather to join the Marines in 1862 at the age of 22 as a Private, and be discharged in 1866 at the rank of Captain is something that I am very proud of. I wish that I knew more about him. My brother Tom was also in the Marines from 1963 to 1966, and we hooked up over in Nam at Chu Lai and Danang during the war. We were both fortunate enough to come back in one piece, and I will always be grateful for the adventure of a life time.
Dana H. Theis – Sgt.
Milford, CT.