Bruce Anderson ( Medal of Honor ) Bruce Anderson ( June 19 , 1845 – August 22 , 1922 ) was an African American Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of America ' s highest military decoration , the Medal of Honor , for his actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher . After working as a farmer in New York Anderson joined the military to fight in the Civil War and volunteered with a group of other soldiers to elminate a palisade that was blocking the advance of his unit . After completing the mission and destroying the palasade , Anderson and twelve others were recommended for the Medal of Honor but the paperwork was lost . Anderson hired an attorney to get the Medal and he and two other soldiers received it in 1914 . Biography . Anderson was born June 19 , 1845 in Mexico City but by the beginning of the Civil War was working as a farmer in New York . He enlisted for service in the military from Schenectady on August 31 , 1864 as a private into Company K of the 142nd New York Infantry . Anderson has the unusual , but not unique , distinction of being an African American soldier who served in a white Civil War regiment . On January 15 , 1865 , Anderson participated in the Union ' s second attack on Fort Fisher in North Carolina . He and twelve other men answered a call for volunteers to advance ahead of the main attack and cut down the palisade which blocked their path . Despite intense fire from the Confederate defenders , Anderson and the others were successful in destroying the obstacle . General Adelbert Ames recommended all thirteen men for the Medal of Honor , but his report was misplaced and the medals not issued . Forty - nine years after the end of the war , in 1914 , Anderson hired a lawyer in an effort to receive the Medal of Honor . One of the other soldiers in the palisade - cutting group , Private Zachariah C . Neahr , had successfully petitioned for the award decades earlier . At Anderson ' s prompting , the Adjutant General of the Army launched an investigation which uncovered General Ames ' letter of recommendation and sought out the other men of the group . Three men , Alaric B . Chapin , George Merrill , and Dewitt C . Hotchkiss , were found to be still alive and were , along with Anderson , again recommended for the medal . Anderson , Merrill , and Chapin were each issued the Medal of Honor on December 28 , 1914 ; Hotchkiss ' recommendation was overlooked a second time , and he was never decorated . Anderson lived for a time in Illinois , but eventually returned to New York and settled there in the city of Amsterdam . He died August 22 , 1922 at age 77 in St . Peter ' s Hospital in Albany , New York , and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Amsterdam . Medal of Honor citation . The President of the United States of America , in the name of Congress , takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Bruce Anderson , United States Army , for extraordinary heroism on 15 January 1865 , while serving with Company K , 142d New York Infantry , in action at Fort Fisher , North Carolina . Private Anderson voluntarily advanced with the head of the column and cut down the palisading . General Orders : Date of Issue : December 28 , 1914 Action Date : January 15 , 1865 Service : Army Rank : Private Company : Company K Regiment : 142nd New York Infantry