User:Jwillbur/sandbox3

John Ezra Buffington (July 3, 1841 – November 22, 1924) was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Third Battle of Petersburg.

Buffington was born on July 3, 1841, on a farm near Middleburg in Carroll County, Maryland. He worked as a farmer in the Middleburg and Taneytown area until August 21, 1862, when he enlisted in the Union Army for a three year term of service.^[1][2]

A sergeant in Company C of the 6th Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry, Buffington served as the regiment's color bearer.^[1][2]

By xx, he was serving as a xx in xx. On that day, . For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor .^[3]

^[3]Place and date of action: Petersburg, Va., 2 April 1865

^[1]served in Company C, 6th Maryland Volunteer Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division (Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour), Sixth Corps, commanded by General J. Warren Keiferfought in the Petersburg-Richmond Campaignbreveted first lieutenant for MOH actionaward of this medal was made directly after the close of the warserved until June 20, 1865awarded MOH March 4, 1908only Carroll County resident to have ever received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

^[2]shared a $400 reward with two other soldiers. The reward was given by Gen. Ulysses S. GrantMOH presented at March 28, 1908, ceremony at Reindollar's Opera House in Taneytown after an Army pension agent discovered that it had never been presentedOne of Buffington's granddaughters has the MOH

Buffington's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

Was the first enlisted man of the 3d Division to mount the parapet of the enemy's line.^[3]

After the war, Buffington returned to the Middleburg area and resumed farming. He married Agnes A. Garber of Taneytown in 1866; they went on to have five daughters and one son.^[2] He died at age 83 on November 22, 1924, in Washington, D.C., and was buried at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Taneytown.^[1][2]