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Coventry Roots: Coventry Men in the Civil War - Part 3

The third in the series of the brave men from Coventry who fought for their country.

 

The next Coventry recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor was Archibald Malbourne who was 22 when he enlisted as a Private in Battery C, 1st Regiment RI Light Artillery. He was born on May 3, 1840, in West Greenwich, the son of John and Huldah Malbourne. Sometimes the spelling of his last name was changed to Malbone or Molbone

Malbourne was from Coventry when he was enlisted on August 13, 1862, by Major Sanford in Providence and was transferred from Battery C on orders dated December 23, 1864, to Battery G, 1st Regiment RI Light Artillery where he was promoted from Corporal to Sergeant. 

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Some of the battles he was involved in besides the Battle of Petersburg on April 2, 1865, for which he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Civil War, were Second Bull Run, Gettysburg, Battle of the Wilderness and Cedar Creek. On June 24, 1865, he mustered out.  

In 1870 he was working as a farm laborer in Summit when he married Mary Frances Emerson and had three daughters, Zilpha, Bertha and Mary as well as one son, Israel H. By 1900 he was earning a living as a farmer and a bobbin turner in Scituate.

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Malbourne died on February 28, 1912, in Providence and was buried in the Bennett-Gardner section of the Clayville Cemetery  in Scituate.

His Citation issued with the Congressional Medal of Honor reads “was one of a detachment of 20 picked artillerymen who voluntarily accompanied an infantry assaulting party and who turned upon the enemy the guns captured in the assault”.  His medal was issued June 20, 1866, when he was 26 years old.

The three men from Coventry who received their Congressional Medal of Honor for their participation in the siege of Petersburg, VA, shared the same experiences on that day of April 2, 1865, that would change their lives forever.

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