The men of the 11th Michigan Volunteer Infantry sat behind their hastily built defenses of dirt, stone, and wood, watching the swirling mass of gray in the distance. After failing to break through the Union line, the Confederate infantry readied to attack again. But the men of the 11th had a problem: they were out of ammunition.
“About 5 p.m., after repulsing five successive charges of the enemy, we found ourselves without ammunition,” 2nd Lt. William G. Whitney said. “The enemy was about 100 yards in our front, preparing for another charge, and their sharpshooters were firing at every man who showed his head above our light works.”
Whitney, a Hillsdale College student who had signed up to fight in August of 1861, was now a twoyear veteran of the war. As he watched the rebel bayonets gleaming in the sinking September sun, he surveyed the field of the dead and dying and came up with a plan.
“I don’t know what prompted me, but I took my knife from my pocket, stepped over the works, and, while my company cheered and the rebels made a target of me, I hurriedly passed along the front, cutting off the cartridge boxes of the dead and wounded, and threw them over to my company,” Whitney said.
Whitney’s actions provided his men with enough ammunition to repel the advancing Confederate line, preventing a collapse of the Union position. For this, he received the Medal of Honor nearly 33 years later, after evidence of his heroism emerged.
Whitney was also noted for his actions in August of 1864. While advancing toward Confederate positions outside of Atlanta, Ga, a union soldier fell wounded.
“Our skirmish line was advanced and fired upon the enemy,” Pvt. James Rayner wrote. “One of the skirmishers fell seriously wounded and cried piteously for help. That the said William G. Whitney, who was 1st lieutenant at the time, having been recently promoted, started to go to his assistance.”
When the young lieutenant moved toward the cries of the wounded man, many in the company tried to dissuade him.
“It meant almost certain death, being exposed to the fire of the enemy and as the members of the company said, ‘Why risk your life when you will soon be discharged, and this man a stranger to you?’” Rayner wrote.
Whitney ignored the warnings and ran half the length of a football field under withering fire to rescue the soldier, bringing him back to the Union line unscathed.
Whitney left the army in September of 1865 after his promotion to captain. He returned home to Allen, Mich., his birthplace, where he lived until his death in 1915 at the age of 74.
