Clinton Albert Cilley was a North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 lawyer and judge, and a recipient of the Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...

 for his actions as an officer in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 at the Battle of Chickamauga

Battle of Chickamauga

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign...

 in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

A native of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, Cilley moved to western North Carolina at the end of the Civil War and became regional administrator for the Freedmens Bureau. Although he was essentially a carpetbagger

Carpetbagger

Carpetbaggers was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877....

, Cilley became very popular as a lawyer in Lenoir, North Carolina

Lenoir, North Carolina

Lenoir is a city in Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,228 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Caldwell County. Lenoir is located in the Blue Ridge foothills. The city also contains the Brushy Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains...

, where he was elected one of the town's first mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

s. He married Emma Harper, daughter of Congressman James C. Harper

James C. Harper

James Clarence Harper was a United States Representative in Congress from the state of North Carolina for one term . Harper was born in Pennsylvania but moved in 1840 to what would soon become Caldwell County, North Carolina...

.

He died May 9, 1900 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery Hickory (Catawba County), North Carolina. His grave can be found in Section 2-E, Row 2.

Honors

The Catawba County Museum of History contains the Clinton Cilley Collection of Civil War artifacts.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Captain, Company C, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Chickamauga, Ga., September 20, 1863. Entered service at: Sasioja, Minn. Birth: Rockingham County, N.H. Date of issue: June 12, 1895.

Citation:

Seized the colors of a retreating regiment and led it into the thick of the attack.

See also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients
• List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F