VISIONS OF HONOR: A Special Look at Gettysburg Medal of Honor Recipient Brigadier General Edmund Rice

He enlisted in the Union Army at age eighteen, commanded a regiment at nineteen, and forty years later was still in the uniform of the United States Army. This is his remarkable story.

THE AWAKENING

The first military image I ever saw of my great, great, great, grandfather Brigadier General Edmund Rice was a small steel engraving of an old soldier with a chest full of medals, a big moustache and a stare that looked right through me. The engraving was in an old book on Medal of Honor recipients and told of a heroic charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. It was my young impression that Grandpa Rice was this age during the Civil War because of the image.

I was 7 years old and the family was having Thanksgiving dinner at my mother's grandparents' and Aunt Corinne's house in Verona, New Jersey. My great grandfather spoke proudly of his grandfather's service in the Civil War, Indian Wars and the War with Spain.

After dinner and dessert my great grandfather showed everyone his grandfather's Medal of Honor and a sword that he carried during the war. I watched the men also looking at an old pistol that was from Grandpa Rice. Everything was put back into the trunk and in the closet safely to keep all of the kids from messing around with these family treasures.

I was intrigued and fascinated that 1 was related to this Civil War hero. The next summer, in 1973, my family took a vacation to Washington, D.C. and Virginia. We went to my ancestor's grave at Arlington National Cemetery whose headstone is a huge boulder with a 3-1 /2 foot bronze sculpture of the Medal of Honor which was cast so it appears to be draped over the boulder, including the reverse with the inscription, "The Congress to lieut.-Col. Edmund Rice, 19th Mass. Vois, for conspicuous bravery on the 3rd day of the battle of Gettysburg." Ever since I put my hands on General Rice's headstone a connection to the past was made that has helped determine the course of my life. We walked the battlefields of Virginia where he fought and the following Christmas I received a Blue and the Gray Civil War toy soldier play set. I was hooked on history and several years later visited Gettysburg.

A few years later I was looking through a box of old family photos at my great Aunt's house and there in the bottom was a small photo about the size of a baseball card. The man was seated wearing an Army uniform and huge boots and holding a cane. On the back was written, "Edmund Rice". Suddenly it dawned on me that this was Grandpa Rice during the Civil War, he was a young man at Gettysburg! When I was 13 I was given one of General Rice's swords and a photo of him during the Spanish American War holding the very sword. This started my quest to learn everything I could about Grandpa Rice and by my college years had assembled quite an impressive collection of artifacts, weapons, images and documents.

Since then I moved to the west coast and was fortunate to acquire a large collection of General Rice items that my late great grandfather's younger brother had held onto for many decades. The great grandchildren of Rice and their families decided that I should be the curator and protector of our family treasures. In the bottom of one of Rice's five footlockers and trunks were found the rest of his chest full of medals that I first saw in the engraving of him as a young boy. It was one of the happiest days of my life!

THE GENERAL

Edmund Rice was born on December 2, 1842, in Brighton, Massachusetts to Eliza (Damon) Rice and Moses Maynard Rice. At the time of his birth the Rice family had lived in the Bay State for over two hundred years. Edmund was named after his ancestor, Deacon Edmund Rice, the Pilgrim who came over from England in 1638 and was one of the first settlers of Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Many of young Edmund's forefathers fought in the French & Indian War and the American Revolution. His grandfather was a veteran of the War of 1812. Edmund's father, Moses M. Rice was a prosperous businessman who was a pioneer in the early horse railroads as well as steam. He was also involved in real estate, mercantile endeavors and helped develop the Cambridge Gasworks and Cambridge Waterworks.

Edmund grew up on Brattle Street in Cambridge, not far from the present day campus of Cambridge University. The house still stands today. He was the fourth born of seven children of this well to do family and was educated at the local schools. The 1850 US census lists him as an eight year old boy along with his brothers and sisters, George Damon 15, Eliza 10, Charles 6 and Israel 3. Another sister, Abigail was born several years later and Edmund's older brother Moses drowned at the age of 10.

Edmund was educated at the local schools and in 1856 he entered Norwich University in Vermont, where he became a cadet at the nation's oldest private Military Academy. He remained at Norwich for nearly three years when he yearned for adventure and had his father arrange for him to become a captain's apprentice with his associate Captain Lloyd on a merchant ship.