(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) Claim submitted by the mother of Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant Alfred Hilton of the 4th USCT. Partly printed document signed twice by Harriet Hilton by mark, and by several other officials and witnesses, with 3 revenue stamps affixed. 3 pages, 10 x 8 inches, on one folding sheet, plus docketing on final blank; worn, minor dampstaining, several short tape repairs at folds. Harford County, MD, 18 September 1865 Sergeant Alfred B. Hilton (1842-1864) of the 4th United States Colored Troops earned the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm. He picked up the regimental colors from a fallen color guard during a charge, before falling himself from a gunshot wound to the leg which soon proved fatal.
In this document, his aged mother Harriet Hilton applies to receive his $300 enlistment bounty. She asserts that her son "died on the 31st day of Dec. 1864 at Fort Munroe Hospital of wounds received" and that he was "unmarried, leaving no widow or child," and that he "was a freeman at the time of his enlistment, and so recognized by the community in which he lived." Her testimony is supported by two witnesses from Havre de Grace, MD and approved in Harford County, MD.