Published: November 02, 2009 02:01 pm      

County historians solve mystery of Michael Huskey

A Lockport sailer earned one of the earliest Congressional Medals of Honor

The USS Carondelet had more fighting engagements than any United States Navy ship until World War II. However, its history in the Civil War may have been much shorter if it were not for the bravery of a young man from Niagara County.

Michael A. Huskey, who emigrated from Ireland to Lockport as a youth during the potato famine, was a sailor on board the USS Carondelet in the ill-fated Steele’s Bayou/Deer Creek expedition in 1863, and one of the earliest Congressional Medal of Honor winners.

County Historian Catherine L. Emerson and Deputies Craig E. Bacon and Ronald F. Cary put the story together thread by thread over five weeks of research and are ready to tell it to the county Legislature on Wednesday at a Veterans Day Recognition Ceremony.

Huskey is the 14th known Niagara County person to be honored as a Congressional Medal winner and local historians hope to bring the medal to Lockport.

The Carondelet was a city-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the Civil War. It operated on river patrol and aided the the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. It had a series of battles at Plum Point Bend, Fort Pillow and Memphis. It suffered 35 casualties in an engagement with CSS Arkansas in July 1862.

Vicksburg was on a very tight curve on the Mississippi and any boat that would come under its guns would be obliterated. Major Gen. Ulysses S. Grant hoped to find a way to get around the heavily-fortified Mississippi city and in March 1863, the flotilla under Admiral David Dixon Porter tried to find a way.

However, the Carondelet was among seven boats that got stuck in the Black Bayou and was in danger of being taken by the Confederates.

“They’re steaming down this flooded land and the people saw them and immediately fled, except for the slaves,” Emerson said. “They were taking provisions, jumping on and off.”

Thick trees arched over Deer Creek and the narrow, sluggish stream was barely wider than the 42-foot boats that were made for fresh water battles. The Confederates were chopping down trees ahead of them and behind them in order to trap and seize the ships. The “brown water navy” could not fall into Confederate hands and the admiral was prepared to skull the boats if necessary.

Bales of cotton were set on fire and smoke filled the air. Varmints and critters were falling on the deck. Confederate sharpshooters and troops started firing on the flotilla. The crew was in the bowels of the ship and Porter hid in a closet.

Huskey, a 5-foot-7 Irish immigrant, was a first-class fireman whose job was to keep the boilers going. He got aboard the USS Ivy, the flag ship.

“There’s fires on the deck. He’s putting out fires while under fire, plus they can’t see what they’re doing. He’s choking on smoke, snakes and animals are dropping on the deck. He trying to put the fires out trying to save the Admiral’s flag ship. Strangely, no one else is mentioned as doing this,” the deputy historians said.

The Ivy and flotilla got out of the bayou with the help of General Sherman and the only thing that sunk was a coal barge. The expedition didn’t do end-around, but did disrupt supply lines to Vicksburg and slaves came back on the flotilla.

The Carondelet was free to battle in the successful Vicksburg bombardments in April and May 1863 and in the rescue of Union troops at Perkins Landing and Hog Point, La. In 1864, the Carondelet was part of the Red River Expedition. She was decommissioned in 1875 and demolished in 1873.

In April 1864, Huskey was named a Medal of Honor winner by general order. He died on or about Oct. 28, 1864 of an illness on the USS Naval Hospital Pinkney and is probably one of the 8,000 unknown soldiers in the Memphis cemetery.

He never received his medal.

“When we discovered this medal of honor winner that nobody knew about, talk about a pin dropping,” Emerson said. “Oh, the horror. How could we forget a medal of honor winner? We researched and nobody mentioned Michael Huskey. He was really falling under the radar.”

Bacon was going through boxes and came across list of metal of honor winners and came to the name “Michael Huskey.”

The country historians learned that the National Park Service also forgot the young man who grew up in Niagara County. Husky was listed as from New York, but records testify that the Huskey family emigrated for Ireland in 1846 and settled in Lockport.

“He came from Ireland as a very young boy and it just said he was from New York, when in fact he spent his life in Lockport. That’s where his family was settled, in Lockport and Royalton,” Emerson said.

Princess Royale manifest shows the family emigrate from Ireland on May 6, 1848. Church roles confirm the family was baptized in St. Patrick’s. The 1855 census shows that Michael Huskey Sr. family lived in Lockport.

The family bought a farm in Royalton. A Huskey Cemetery remains on Chestnut Ridge Road, although the family is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery.

A 1898 New York Times article has Michael Huskey on the list of people who never picked up his medal, which is delivered by the President of the United States.

“The medal is in Washington,” Emerson said. “It’s a great story. It’s something we can learn a lot from. We’re trying to find out what happened to the medal. It belongs to the county. We want it for the county.”

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, ext. 6246.