Samuel C . Wright Samuel Cole Wright ( September 29 , 1842 – July 6 , 1906 ) was a sergeant in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Wright served with the 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , participated in 30 battles , was wounded five times and twice reported dead . For his actions during the Battle of Antietam he received the Medal of Honor on January 29 , 1896 . Civil War service . Wright initially enlisted as a private in the 3rd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in May 1861 and was transferred to the 29th Massachusetts Infantry when that regiment was formed in December 1861 . He participated with the 29th Massachusetts in the Peninsular Campaign during which he was wounded in the head by a shell fragment at the Battle of White Oak Swamp on June 30 , 1862 . During the Battle of Antietam on September 17 , 1862 , the 29th Massachusetts served with the Irish Brigade . As the brigade advanced on the Confederate position at the so - called " Bloody Lane , " their progress was impeded by a split rail fence . Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher , commanding the Irish Brigade , called for volunteers to tear down the fence . Years later , Wright described the episode as follows : Some 200 yards in advance of our position , which we were holding at a terrible cost , was a fence built high and strong . The troops in advance had tried to scale the fence and reform under that hell of fire . They were actually torn in shreds and wedged into the fence . The cry came to us for volunteers to pull down the fence . Instantly there sprang from the long line , fast being shortened as the ranks closed up over the dead , seventy - six volunteers . We ran straight for the fence amid a hail of iron and lead , the dead falling all about us , but to reach the fence was our only thought . A part of the force reached it , and , as one would grasp a rail it would be sent flying out of his hands by rifle - shots . The fence leveled , we made the attempt to return , and it was as hot for us on the retreat , as it had been on the advance . Few escaped death or wounds . I had almost regained my regiment , when I was hit . The line then successfully pressed on , and the ' Sunken Road , ' or ' Bloody Lane , ' as it is now known , was within our lines . Wright was shot in the left knee during this engagement but refused to be removed from the field . For his actions during the Battle of Antietam , Wright was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1896 . In October 1863 , Wright was run down by a mule team but recovered from his wounds . He was shot in the left arm during the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 2 , 1864 . During the Battle of the Crater on July 30 , 1864 , he was shot through the right eye and left for dead . He recovered , however , and the bullet was removed from the back of his head . He kept the bullet as a reminder of his brush with death . Wright received two battlefield promotions and was mustered out with the rank of sergeant on February 3 , 1865 . Post - war career . After the war , Wright became a storekeeper in Plympton , Massachusetts and also worked in the United States Customs office in Boston , Massachusetts . Active with various veterans organizations , Wright was designated a national color bearer by the Union Veterans Union and served on the command staff of the Massachusetts department of the Grand Army of the Republic . He also served on the executive committee of the 29th Massachusetts Regimental Association and worked through that organization to preserve portraits and photographs of members of the regiment .