Biography

04/22/1848 - 04/04/1915

First Lieutenant John Carroll Delaney Pennsylvania State Senate Librarian, 1879-1890

Early Military Life:

First Lieutenant John Carroll Delaney, born April 22, 1848, County Galway, Ireland; family moved, United States, settled, Honesdale, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 1853; coal breaker, slate picker, Scranton coal mines, Lackawanna County, age 8, 1856; mule driver, Pennsylvania Canal, 1858; enlisted, United States Union Army, Civil War, Private, Company I, 107th Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry, age 13, March 5, 1862-1865; after serving for the entire Civil War, attended school for one year; railroad employment, Pennsylvania Lehigh Valley Engineer Corps; executive department messenger, Governor Hartranft, 1873-1879; appointed, Pennsylvania State Senate Librarian, 1879-1890; appointed, President Benjamin Harrison, land agent, Oklahoma territory, 1892-1893; Pennsylvania Superintendent of Public Grounds and Buildings; Pennsylvania Factory Inspector; married, E. Dora Klein Delaney; died, April 4, 1915 (age 66), stomach cancer, Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; interment, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia.

Military Life: 

Enlisted, United States Union Army, Civil War, Private, Company I, 107th Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry, saw battle action, wounded, bloody cornfield, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Dabney’s Mills, at age 13, March 5, 1862.  

Promoted, Corporal, January 4, 1863; Sergeant, October 18, 1864; 1st Sergeant, April 1, 1865; 2d Lieutenant, May 27, 1865; commissioned, 1st Lieutenant, July 7, 1865, not mustered; mustered out with Company, July 13, 1865, age seventeen, perhaps one of the youngest lieutenants in the army; Veteran. 

Awarded for actions during the Civil War, The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant John Carroll Delaney, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 6 February 1865, while serving with Company I, 107th Pennsylvania Infantry, in action at Dabney's Mills, Virginia. Sergeant Delaney sprang between the lines and brought out a wounded comrade about to be burned in the brush. General Orders: Date of Issue: August 29, 1894; Action Date: February 6, 1865; Service: Army; Rank: Sergeant, Company: Company I, Division: 107th Pennsylvania Infantry.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Executive department messenger, Governor John Frederick Hartranft, 1873-1879. 

Appointed, Pennsylvania State Senate Librarian, 1879-1890.

Appointed, President Benjamin Harrison, land agent, Oklahoma territory, 1892-1893. 

Pennsylvania Superintendent of Public Grounds and Buildings; Pennsylvania Factory Inspector.

Legacy:

One of two 107ths Pennsylvania soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in the Civil War (the other being Private Solomon J. Hottenstine). 

Interment Section 3, Site 2170-WS next to friend, Colonel Michael Kerwin, Civil War Union Army Officer, commander, 13th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, Section 3, Site 2169.

Cited:

Valor awards for John Carroll Delaney (archive.ph)

107th Pennsylvnia Volunteers, Company I Muster Roll (pa-roots.com)

“Always Ready for Duty” - The Remarkable Life of John Delaney (penncivilwar.com)

Arlington National Cemetery | Army Cemeteries Explorer 

John Carroll Delaney (1848-1915) - Find a Grave Memorial