First Sgt. Decatur Dorsey, North Bergen, NJ (1856-1891)
FIRST SGT. DECATUR DORSEY, NORTH BERGEN, NEW JERSEY
Decatur Dorsey was a former slave who received a Medal of Honor for his Civil War bravery. But his modest grave lacked any note of his heroism. First Sergeant Dorsey, a member of Company B, 39th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops, earned the nations highest military honor for saving the colors and rallying the troops at the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864.
He also was one of 185,000 enslaved Blacks who fought in the Union Army and one of the 56 Blacks among the 2,357 servicemen awarded the Medal of Honor since 1863. Dorsey, who is buried at the Flower Hill Cemetery, died in nearby Hoboken at the age of 55 on July 11, 1891. His wife, Mannie Cristie Dorsey, died in 1897.
Sgt. Dorsey, once a Maryland slave, rode ahead of his troops into a hail of enemy fire on July 30, 1864, at Petersburg, and planted the Union flag on Confederate territory. The Black troops had been sent in after an assault by a White company failed. But when the Union troops saw the flag they forged ahead, only to be driven back again. Dorsey carried the flag in retreat and rallied his men to a new assault. Later, a Union commander ordered a full retreat, but the Black brigades casualty list of 1,324 was the longest of any of the three attacking divisions.
