Union
Sergeant John Kiggins of the 149th New York was awarded the Medal of
Honor for his actions on November 24th 1863 at the Battle of Lookout
Mountain.
John Kiggins
was born February 2nd 1837 in DeRuyter, Madison, New York.
Kiggins
enlisted September 2nd 1862, and became a Sergeant on November 1st
1863. On November 24th 1863
the 149th New York moved on Lookout Mountain from the Tennessee side
of the mountain. The plan was to
overwhelm the Confederates on the Lookout Mountain by sheer force of numbers. As the fight got rolling, a heavy fog layed
over the lower mountain. The men of the
149th found themselves stuck in between the Confederate line in
their front and friendly fire coming from their rear. Kiggins a Sergeant in Company D of the 149th
could see the men were in a predicament, and he grabbed a large American flag,
stood up on a stump and began waving it over his head. This movement stop the fire on the 149th
coming from their rear, but made Kiggins a great target for Confederates in his
front. Kiggins found nine bullet holes
in his uniform, the top of his head was grazed by a bullet and one shot went
through his thigh. In the end the Union
won the Battle the next day.
Kiggins
would be wounded again May 25th 1864 in the shoulder at the Battle
of New Hope Church. He didn’t return to
his unit until April 23rd 1865 at Raleigh, North Carolina.
Kiggins
returned after the war to Syracuse, New York where he worked for the Whitman
and Barnes Company a tool making company as a night watchman. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on January
12th 1892. The citation for
the award reads, “Waved the colors to save the lives of the men who were being
fired upon by their own batteries, and thereby drew upon himself a concentrated
fire from the enemy.” Kiggins died in
Syracuse, New York September 29th 1914. He is buried in the Bath National Cemetery in
Bath, Steuben, New York.
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