Promotions and awards

Five brevet generals came out of the Third Michigan: four Brigadiers: Stephen Champlin, Ambrose Stevens, Moses Houghton and Israel Smith); and one Major General: Byron Pierce (photo at right; source Michigan at Gettysburg.)

By the end of the war, and including those men who were transferred to the Fifth Michigan or who entered second and third units, the following data is revealed:

Of the original Third Michigan Field & Staff:

Col. McConnell remained a Colonel
Lt.Col. Stevens became a Bvt Brigadier General
Maj. Champlin became a Brevet Brigadier General
QM Collins became a Captain of Subsistence and Commissary of the regular army
Both Bliss brothers became surgeons in the regular army -- D. W. ended the war as a Colonel and Zenas as Lieutenant Colonel

Of the ten original Captains:

Samuel Judd of Company A died a Captain
Adolph Birkenstock of Company C ended the war a Sergeant in a New York
regiment (by choice)
Byron Pierce of Company K became a Brevet Major General
Moses Houghton of Company D became a Brevet Brigadier General
Everyone else remained captains.

Of the ten First Lieutenants:

5 became Captains
3 remained First Lieutenants
Charles Spang of Company H ended the war a Private (by choice)
Fred Worden of Company F became a Lieutenant Colonel

Of the nine Second Lieutenants:

Israel Smith of Company E became a Brevet Brigadier General
William Ryan of Company H became a Major
2 became captains
2 became First Lieutenants
2 remained Second Lieutenants
George Phillips of D company ended the war a Sergeant

Of the 48 Sergeants:

Dan Root of Company K ended the war a Lieutenant Colonel
Homer Thayer of Company G became a Major
George Remington of Company F became an Adjutant
13 became Captains (seven of these men had started out as First Sergeants)
5 became First Lieutenants
6 became Second Lieutenants
10 remained Sergeants (plus one who became Commissary sergeant)
1 ended the war a corporal
9 as Privates.

Of the 78 Corporals:

Don Lovell and Peter Weber both of Company A became Majors
Milton Leonard of Company F a Captain
eight became Lieutenants
38 ended the war as Sergeants
27 remained corporals
17 ended the war as Privates.

Twenty-seven Sergeants and eight Corporals became commissioned officers.

Of the Privates:

4 would become Majors
8 would become Captains
11 became First Lieutenants
3 became Second Lieutenants
1 was a Naval Ensign

Of the Musicians who served in the Third Michigan:

2 would become Captains
2 became First Lieutenants
1 was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.

Curiously, not one man who enlisted in the Regiment after June of 1861 became a commissioned officer.

Awards

Two Third Michigan soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor for capturing enemy colors:

Benjamin Morse of C company for taking a stand of colors from the Fourth Georgia Artillery on May 12, 1864 at Spotsylvania; and Walter Mundell of D company for taking colors on April 6, 1865, at Sayler’s Creek, Virginia.

According to the Official Records , 34 men of the Third Michigan were awarded the Kearny Cross, a medal given by Brigadier General David Birney on or about May 16, 1863, for their participation in the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, on May 3, 1863.

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