Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce New Jersey Civil War Veteran’s Medal attributed to Volunteer Corporal J. Mackey, 7th New Jersey Infantry Regiment, who was captured on 22 June 1864 during the First Battle for the Weldon Railroad and was held in captivity at the notorious prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia

State of New Jersey Civil War Veteran Medal, bronze, unnamed, the reverse of suspension bar officially numbered 587, good very fine £300-£400

John Mackey was born in Ireland in about 1843 and was mustered into service as a private in Company B, 7th New Jersey Infantry Regiment, at Trenton, N.J., for three years on 27 August 1861. During the spring of 1862 his company was disbanded and he was transferred to Company A. He re-enlisted on 25 December 1863 as a veteran volunteer and was promoted Corporal on 1 January 1864. He was awarded 35 days’ furlough from 9 April 1864 and was captured on 22 June 1864 along the Jerusalem Plan Road south of Petersburg during the First Battle for the Weldon Railroad. He was imprisoned briefly in Richmond and then Lynchburg before being transferred to Andersonville. He was discharged to a hospital at Millen, Georgia on 11 November and as paroled at Savannah, Georgia, on 26 November. After time at a parole camp near Annapolis, Maryland he re-joined the 7th on 7 January 1865 and was mustered out near Washington, D.C., on 17 July 1865.

Mackey’s regiment fought in all the major battles and campaigns in the east including the Peninsular Campaign, the Seven Days, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and - after he re-joined the regiment - the Appomattox Campaign. The medal was awarded on 2 December 1907. He lived in New Jersey for much of his life and was awarded a pension on 28 January 1903. He died on 14 August 1912, and his widow Sarah applied for a widow’s pension on 14 September 1912.

The State of New Jersey Civil War Veteran Medal
In 1904, the State of New Jersey authorised the issue of the New Jersey Civil War Veteran Medal to honour its veterans in the State’s Civil War volunteer regiments, but in 1909 it was extended to all who served in the army and naval forces of the United States and who were credited to the State’s quota of men. This medal took the form of a 37mm bronze disc, suspended from a bar by two chains. The medal itself was unnamed but the reverse of the bar was individually impressed with a number which can be traced to each veteran it was issued to. Approximately 88,000 men from this State fought for the Union but just 5,292 of these medals were issued to veterans.

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