branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance unit awards placeofburial_label battles birth_date placeofburial rank image article_title name
union army oregon 17 november 1908 liverpool , ohio united states of america union company h , 37th ohio infantry medal of honor place of burial american civil war * battle of vicksburg 25 august 1841 eugene pioneer cemetery corporal us-moh-1862 . png louis renninger
 louis renninger
louis renninger

louis renninger -lrb- august 25 , 1841 - november 17 , 1908 -rrb- was a union soldier who received the medal of honor for gallantry in the american civil war .
on may 22 , 1863 , renninger was one of 150 union soldiers who volunteered to lead an assault on the confederate heights at the battle of vicksburg , mississippi .
the plan was for the volunteer storming party to build a bridge across a moat and plant scaling ladders against the enemy embankment in advance of the main attack .
the volunteers knew the odds were against survival and the mission was called a `` forlorn hope '' in nineteenth century vernacular .
only single men were accepted as volunteers and even then , twice as many men as needed came forward and were turned away .
the assault began in the early morning following a naval bombardment and it was a failure .
the union soldiers came under enemy fire immediately and were pinned down in the ditch they were to cross .
despite repeated attacks by the main union body under the command of general grant , the men of the forlorn hope were unable to retreat until nightfall .
of the 150 men in the storming party , two-thirds were killed .
corporal louis renninger of company h , 37th ohio volunteer infantry was one of the survivors and for his gallantry , he was awarded the medal of honor in 1894 .
as a result of his injuries , he was transferred to the veteran reserve corps , and discharged in october 1864 .
heading to oregon after the war , renninger and his wife elizabeth had a family farm in the mohawk valley of lane county , oregon .
he is buried in the eugene pioneer cemetery .
