From VALOR IN GRAY by Gregg S. Clemmer)

CONFEDERATE MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT

CONFEDERATE MEDAL OF HONOR
CITATION
FOR
SERGEANT ADAM WASHINGTON BALLENGER
13th South Carolina Infantry. C.S.A.
Battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia
28 July 1864

"During the charge of the 12th and 13th South Carolina Regiments which threw the enemy into confusion, Sergeant Ballenger left his command and alone, rushed forward and captured one of the guns of the enemy's artillery. In his desperate fight with enemy teamsters who sought to retake the cannon and move it to the rear, Sergeant Ballenger, although dangerously exposed to enemy fire, cut the traces to the horses, then mounted the gun and single handedly defended the piece until reinforcements arrived."

FROM VALOR IN GRAY (by Gregg S. Clemmer): from pgs 297 & 298

…Upon hearing of this day {28 Jul 1864}, the recovering Brig. Gen. Samuel McGowan ordered Sgt. Adam Ballenger to headquarters. …Congratulating…his gallantry, McGowan informed Ballenger that he was now a second lieutenant, promoted with a battlefield commission for "valor and skill" to date from 28 Jul 1864. But for Lt. Ballenger, the ceremony was bittersweet. …he learned from Capt J.W. Carlisle…his brother, Joseph, lay wounded… he galloped to the west…on his captured battery horse in search of his …brother. But Adam Ballenger never saw his brother again. …Joseph had been taken prisoner and incarcerated at Point Lookout where he soon died. …{after the war} he married Emma Victoria Wingo…they raised 12 children while managing the Inman Hotel …Called "Cap'n" by nearly everyone in town…remembered as a genial old gentleman, an animated conversationalist & lover of good food. …He died while raking leaves …was laid out in the dining room, casket open …His Confederate Medal of Honor is on permanent public display in the Spartanburg County Historical Association headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina

Daughter Minnie Ballengers memorial 34064438