John M. Deane

John M. Deane

John M. Deane, c.1902
Born (1840-01-08)January 8, 1840
Assonet, Massachusetts
Died September 2, 1914(1914-09-02) (aged 74)
Assonet, Massachusetts
Place of burial Assonet Burying Ground
Allegiance  United States of America
Union
Service/branch  United States Army
Union Army
Years of service 1861 - 1865
Rank Major
Unit Massachusetts 29th Massachusetts Infantry
Battles/wars American Civil War
Awards Medal of Honor
Other work Businessman

John Milton Deane (January 8, 1840 - September 2, 1914), was an American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and a major in the United States Army.

Biography

Deane was born in Assonet, Massachusetts to John and Lydia (Andros) Deane. He attended local schools in Assonet and Myricks, and later at the Foxboro English and Classical School. After completing his own schooling, Deane served as a schoolteacher in Berkley and Assonet. Deane enlisted in the Assonet Light Infantry in September, 1858.[1]

On November 20, 1866, Deane married Mary Gray Pearce (1846–1923). She was the daughter of Abner Tompkins and Sarah Read (Briggs) Pearce.[1] He was elected a resident member of the Old Colony Historical Society in 1902.[2] In 1896-97, he had erected a home on Water Street in Assonet that is now the Assonet Inn. On September 2, 1914, John Deane died at the age of 74. He is buried in the Assonet Burying Ground.

In 1989, a ceremony was held in the Assonet Burying Ground during which a government marker was placed on Deane's grave. In 2005, Deane's diaries from the period 1861-1865 were published by the Freetown Historical Society as Civil War Diaries of Maj. John M. Deane, Medal of Honor Winner, 1861-1865.

Medal of Honor citation

In a letter dated March 8, 1895, Col. W. F. Ainsworth informed Deane that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor "for most distinguished gallantry in action at Fort Steadman, Virginia, March 25, 1865, in serving with other volunteers, a previously silenced and abandoned gun, mounted en barbette, at Fort Haskell, being exposed to a galling fire from the enemy's sharpshooters."

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Richmond, Col. Silas P. A History of the Town of Freetown, Massachusetts: Military History. Assonet: Assonet Village Improvement Society, 1902.
  2. ↑ Collections of the Old Colony Historical Society, No. 8. Taunton: Old Colony Historical Society, 1921.
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