William Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor May 23, 1900, 37 years after the assault on Fort Wagner in 1863. More than half such awards from the Civil War were presented 20 or more years after the fact. His actions at Fort Wagner preceded those of any other black recipient. He was the 21st African-American to be awarded the Medal.
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| Medal of Honor |
After retirement from the postal service, he was employed as a messenger at the Massachusetts State House. In 1908 he was fatally injured in an accident that trapped his leg in an elevator. He died on December 8, 1908 at the age of 68 in Boston, Massachusetts, and was buried in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Engraved on his stone monument is a gold image of the Medal of Honor.
In December 1908, all the flags in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts were lowered to half-mast in tribute to Sgt. William H. Carney. Never before had this honor been paid to an ordinary citizen and African American.
Carney's face is shown on the monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th on the Boston Common designed by Augustus Saint Gaudens.
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| Behind the mounted figure of Shaw is the face of William H. Carney |
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