MEDAL OF HONOR SPOTLIGHT: William Carney William Carney, the first African-American to perform a Medal of Honor action, was born into a Virginia family that had been manumitted by enslavers. In 1856, Carney and his father headed north, eventually settling in New Bedford, MA. Carney signed up for the famed 54th MA Colored Infantry when the Civil War started. He would later receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the push for Fort Wagner, located on Morris Island in the Charleston, SC, harbor. Carney grabbed the flag when the color-bearer went down, placed it on the parapet when he reached the fort, and then safely took it off when retreat became necessary. He never let it touch the ground. He suffered a wound to his upper left leg that left him with a life-long limp, and another to his head, which severely affected his eyesight. He died in 1908 in an elevator accident at the Massachusetts State House. The flag he carried at Fort Wagner is preserved at the Boston Town Hall in B...