When the American Civil War broke out in the spring of 1861, boys on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, caught up in patriotic enthusiasm rushed to join the Union and Confederate armies.

In June of that year, 18-year-old William McKinley quit his job as a postal clerk in Poland, Ohio, and enlisted as a private in Company E, of the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry – a unit destined to become one of the most famous in the war. It fought in 19 battles and lost a total of 2,095 members – 169 killed in combat and another 107 died of wounds and disease.

Before his first year of service had ended, young McKinley was promoted to Commissary Sergeant. On September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam – the bloodiest day of the Civil War, in fact the bloodiest day in American military history – Sergeant McKinley was just to the rear of the battlefield watching over the brigade’s food and supplies. The men had eaten only a scanty breakfast, and he knew that as the day wore on the Buckeyes were growing weaker.

After gathering up a hand full of stragglers, Sergeant McKinley courageously led two mule teams with wagons of rations and hot coffee into the thick of battle. Working his way over rough ground, through a hailstorm of artillery and rifle fire, he ignored repeated warnings to retreat – and continued on. He lost one team of mules to Confederate gunners, but did not return to the rear of the brigade until his fellow soldiers had been properly fed under the most adverse conditions.

He earned that day the undying gratitude and respect of his comrades. "From Sergeant McKinley’s hand," said the Commander afterwards, "every man in the regiment was served with hot coffee and warm meats, a thing which had never occurred under similar circumstances in any other army in the world."

For his coolness under fire, outstanding bravery, and attention to DUTY, young McKinley was that same week promoted to second lieutenant. By war’s end he was a major – and thirty years later became President of the United States.

Compiled by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Historian Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia