Amasa Tracy Amasa Sawyer Tracy ( March 16 , 1829 – February 26 , 1908 ) was a Union Army officer . He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for gallantry . Early life . Tracy was born in Dover , Maine , the third child of David and Sarah Fowler Sawyer Tracy . He attended academy in Farmington , Maine . When he was 15 , he moved to Uxbridge , Massachusetts , where he found work . After a short period he went to Vermont . He worked as a carpenter until the Civil War broke out . Military career . At the age of 32 , he enlisted in a company organized in Vergennes , Vermont . It elected him a first lieutenant . The unit was assigned to the Second Regiment , Vermont Volunteer Infantry . He was mustered into the US Army on June 20 , 1861 . He immediately left with his regiment for Washington , D . C . In July his regiment was brigaded with the third , fourth and fifth Maine regiments under command of Colonel O . O . Howard . Tracy was appointed provost marshal on Colonel Howard ' s staff . The first battle in which he participated was that of Bull Run on July 21 , 1861 . After the battle , his regiment ultimately became a part of the Vermont Brigade . In February , 1862 , Tracy was promoted to captain of Company H . On April 21 , 1864 , he was commissioned major of the regiment , and in the same year was commissioned lieutenant colonel . He commanded the regiment until the end of the war . Tracy was breveted colonel of volunteers for gallantry in the final attack on the rebel line at Petersburg , Virginia , April 2 , 1865 . He commanded the old Vermont Brigade at the battle of Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah valley . He was the first officer to greet General Sheridan on his arrival from Winchester . General Sheridan ' s line of battle was re - formed on Tracy ' s brigade at Cedar Creek . Tracy was awarded a medal of honor for his service in that engagement . He was severely wounded in the charge on Marye ' s Heights , May 3 , 1863 , and at Cedar Creek October 19 , 1864 . Tracy fought in the following battles : Young ' s Mills , Bull Run , Lee ' s Mills , Williamsburg , Golding ' s Farm , Savage Station , White Oak Swamp , Crampton ' s Gap , Antietam , Fredericksburg , Marye ' s Heights , Charleston , Opequan , Winchester , Fisher ' s Hill , Mount Jackson , Cedar Creek , Petersburg , March 25 , 1865 , and Petersburg , April 2 , 1865 , and Sayler ' s Creek . He served in the Civil war a little over four years . Postwar . Upon his return from the war Tracy owned a store in Middlebury , Vermont . He was postmaster for twelve years . For the following six years he manufactured carriages . He then became a US customs agent in Burlington , Windmill Point , Alburg , Richford , St . Albans and North Troy , Vermont . He lived in North Troy for at least six years as a deputy collector of customs . Family . He married Helen Sarah Dow in February , 1849 , and they resided in her father ' s house in Leicester , Vermont . His wife died in August of the same year . Tracy moved to Massachusetts . Six years later he moved to Middlebury , Vermont . There he married Sarah M . Crane , daughter of Horace Crane , in March , 1858 . Six children were born . Four of them survived to adulthood : Horace C . , Lena F . , Lillian S . and Charles A . Tracy . Tracy died in Middlebury , Vermont and is buried in West Cemetery . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Lieutenant Colonel , 2d Vermont Infantry . Place and date : At Cedar Creek , Va . , 19 October 1864 . Entered service at : Middlebury , Vt . Birth : Maine . Date of issue : 24 June 1892 .