Aaron Anderson Aaron Anderson or Sanderson ( 1811 – January 9 , 1886 ) a Union Navy sailor during the American Civil War and a recipient of America ' s highest military decoration , the Medal of Honor . He was born North Carolina and later lived in Pennsylvania where he worked as a cook until he joined the Navy at age 52 . He was assigned to the where he participated in blocking Confederate forces from getting supplies along the Potomac River . Shortly before the war ended he participated in a mission to attack a group of Confederate troops attempting to get supplies . In the process they came under heavy fire which destroyed many of their weapons and severely damaged their boats but Anderson continued firing a howitzer until they had gotten to safety . For his actions he was presented with the Medal of Honor . A short time later he left at the end of his enlistment and nothing else is known about him after he left the Navy . Civil War service . Anderson , an African American , was born on a farm in Plymouth , North Carolina , and moved to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , as a young man . He worked as a cook before enlisting in the Navy at age 52 on April 17 , 1863 . He was assigned as a landsman to the , but his last name was erroneously entered into the ship ' s logs as " Sanderson " . The " Wyandank " served as part of the Potomac River Flotilla , a group of ships which enforced the Union blockade against Confederate shipping on the Potomac River . On March 17 , 1865 , less than one month before the end of the war , he participated in a mission to attack Confederate forces in Mattox Creek , a tributary of the Potomac in Virginia . A boat equipped with a howitzer was launched from another ship of the Potomac Flotilla , the , and a group of seventy men was sent to follow along the river bank on foot . Anderson and a number of other black landsmen worked the oars on the boat , while Boatswain ' s Mate Patrick Mullen manned the howitzer and Ensign Summers acted as commander . As the boat and the accompanying foot soldiers made their way up the creek ' s right fork , the foot soldiers came under sporadic fire from sniper s . Upon finding four small boats which had been abandoned by the Confederates , the soldiers on the river bank set about destroying them . Meanwhile , the men in the boat rowed back down the creek and then up the left fork . Without a supporting land force , the boat was vulnerable to attack from Confederate soldiers on the river banks , and the deeper waters of the left fork meant that they might encounter a larger craft than their own . Upon coming around a bend in the creek , they saw three seemingly abandoned schooner s moored on shore . As Mullen prepared to fire the howitzer at the three ships , the boat came under fire from about 400 Confederate soldiers on shore . Summers ordered Anderson and the other oarsmen to row towards the schooners , and , when close enough , Mullen tossed an incendiary device onto each . With the schooners in flames , the boat began retreating downstream through heavy fire from the Confederates . Half of the boat ' s oars and Summers ' musket were destroyed by gunfire , and there were several bullet holes in the side of the boat . As Anderson and the other men who still had oars continued to row downstream , the rest of the oarsmen bailed water while Mullen fired the howitzer at the soldiers on shore . They successfully escaped from the Confederate force , and although the boat was badly damaged , the only casualty was one landsman slightly wounded . Summers singled out Anderson and Mullen for their actions during the skirmish , and both men were awarded the Medal of Honor on June 22 , 1865 . Anderson ' s award was issued under the name " Aaron Sanderson " , the misspelling which had been entered into the " Wyandank ' s " logs . Mullen earned a second Medal of Honor less than two months after the Mattox Creek expedition , making him one of only nineteen two - time recipients . Anderson left the Navy after his term of service expired and nothing is known of his post - war life . However , if his true name was Sanderson , he returned to Philadelphia and lived and worked in South Philadelphia at various jobs . According to Philadelphia city directories of the period , he worked as a laborer , cook , whitewasher and coachman . Aaron Sanderson , described as a black male widower , born Virginia , aged seventy , who worked as a " calsiminer " calciminer — another term for whitewasher — and resided at 1357 Kater Street in South Philadelphia , died on January 9 , 1886 of heart disease and was buried four days later at the former Lebanon Cemetery . Medal of Honor citation . Citation : Served on board the U . S . S . " Wyandank " during a boat expedition up Mattox Creek , March 17 , 1865 . Participating with a boat crew in the clearing of Mattox Creek , L / man Anderson carried out his duties courageously in the face of a devastating fire which cut away half the oars , pierced the launch in many places and cut the barrel off a musket being fired at the enemy .