William Downey (U.S. Civil War hero)

Ireland-born Union Army Pvt. William Downey (1832–1909) of Fall River, Massachusetts, was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor for heroic actions during the U.S. Civil War on May 24, 1864. On that date, this cavalryman braved heavy fire from a Confederate States Army artillery battery as a volunteer member of a boat crew on the Ashepoo River, South Carolina to rescue crewmen on the stranded Union (American Civil War) steamer ‘’Boston’’. The date of this Medal of Honor’s award was January 21, 1897. Private Downey is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in New Bedford, Massachusetts.