Local memorial will pay tribute to Medal of Honor recipient

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md.–A memorial in Havre de Grace will pay tribute to Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton, an African American Union Army Soldier and Harford County’s only Medal of Honor recipient.

The memorial will be located at the David R. Craig Park, next to the Joseph L. Davis Post 47 American Legion. The Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton Memorial Fund Committee hosted a designation ceremony May 14 to celebrate the new memorial site. Local officials, APG leadership and residents were in attendance.

Serving with honor

Hilton lived at his father’s farm on Gravel Hill Road, in Havre de Grace, until August 1863, when he enlisted in Company H, 4th United States Colored Troops.

On Sept. 29, 1864 Hilton advanced ahead of Union troops in the assault against entrenched Confederate defenses at the Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia, a critical engagement during the Civil War.

Hilton was mortally wounded while serving as national color bearer. He was posthumously honored by the U.S. War Department with the Medal of Honor for “gallantry in action as color-bearer,” with a citation that read: “When the regimental Color Bearer fell, Sergeant Hilton seized the Color and carried it forward, together with the national standard, until disabled at the enemy’s inner line.”

Hilton was in his twenties when died; his exact age is unknown.

Recognizing ‘a true American hero’  

Military veteran Curtis Beulah, chairman of the Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton Memorial Fund Committee, said the designated memorial site is only a few miles from where Hilton grew up. He said the committee is excited to begin the process of recognizing “a true American hero.”

“It is easy to imagine that Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton may have traveled through this very location,” Beulah said.

Havre de Grace Mayor Bill Martin said it isn’t hard to picture Hilton enjoying the same things we do.

“Albert Hilton was one of us,” he said.

Martin said Hilton is a hero because was willing to give his life for freedom. He knew what this struggle was about, he said.

“When you are a human being it is not unhuman to give your life for someone you love, but there is an amazing, noble quality within someone when you give your life for an idea, an absolutely that was Alfred Hilton.”

Martin said he hopes the monument will remind everyone what it means to be an American.

“I hope it is a symbol of what freedom means for generations to come,” he said.

Martin promised that the flag on the memorial will be the “most beautiful flag” for the “man that wouldn’t let the American flag hit the ground.”

Program Executive Officer for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical, Brig. Gen. Robert Collins, attended the event. He said the local support of the military demonstrates “what’s great about our country.”

“To have all the community members come to honor the only Medal of Honor [recipient] from the region says a lot about the community and it says a lot about our nation,” he said.

Joyce Byrd, a family member of Hilton, said her family looks forward to the construction of the new memorial.

“You see these things happening for other people; then all the sudden something happens for your own family, it’s fabulous,” she said.

For more information

To learn more about the Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton Memorial Fund Inc., visit www.sgtalfredbhiltonfoundation.com.