DOB/DOD: August 14, 1840 (Willimantic, CT) – January 16, 1870 (Caldera, Chile); 29 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Margaret L. Long (1817-1880) on October 14, 1863.
ENLISTMENT: February 24, 1864, in Jersey City, New Jersey
DISCHARGE: Mustered out on July 2, 1865
FAMILY: Born to John C.M. (1815-1894) and Mary A. Reed Hooper (1817-1880). One brother, George S. (1837-1892). One sister Helen E. Hooper Root (1843-1915).
MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING: Civil War
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army
UNIT: Company L, 1st New Jersey Cavalry
DATE OF ISSUE AND PRESENTATION: July 3, 1865
AGE ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT: 24
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal William B. Hooper, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 31 March 1865, while serving with Company L, 1st New Jersey Cavalry, in action at Chamberlain’s Creek, Virginia. With the assistance of a comrade, Corporal Hooper headed off the advance of the enemy, shooting two of his Color Bearers; also posted himself between the enemy and the lead horses of his own command, thus saving the herd from capture.
Others in the 1st Regiment, New Jersey Cavalry to receive the Medal of Honor
Sergeant James T. Clancy, C Company – Vaughan Road, 1 October 1864
Private Lewis Locke, A Company – Paine’s Crossroads, 5 April 1865
Sergeant William Porter, H Company – Sayler’s Creek, 6 April 1865
Sergeant John C. Sagelhurst, B Company – Hatcher’s Run, 6 February 1865
Sergeant David Southard, C Company – Sayler’s Creek, 6 April 1865
1st Sergeant George W. Stewart, E Company – Paine’s Crossroads, 5 April 1865
Private Christian Streile, I Company – Paine’s Crossroads, 5 April 1865
Sergeant Charles Titus, H Company – Sayler’s Creek, 6 April 1865
Sergeant Aaron B. Tompkins, G Company – Sayler’s Creek, 5 April 1865
Sergeant Charles E. Wilson, A Company – Sayler’s Creek, 6 April 1865
Sergeant John Wilson, L Company – Chamberlain’s Creek, 31 March 1865
From an unknown newspaper dated Monday, October 10, 1988
NEW HEADSTONE HONORS MYSTERY MAN AND HERO
WINDHAM — A Congressional Medal of Honor headstone was put in place Friday in the Old Willimantic Cemetery for William B. Hooper — 118 years after he died.
The special stone is the first and only one of its kind in Windham.
The Medal of Honor star is etched in glistening gold leaf into the white Georgia marble stone. The simple stone indicates Hooper lived from 1841 to 1870 and was a quartermaster sergeant in the 1st New Jersey Cavalry during the Civil War.
The new stone was placed in front of a large family headstone just left of the entrance to the cemetery at the intersection of Routes 32 and 66.
The inscription on the larger headstone states only that Hooper died in Caldera, Chile, on January 16, 1870, at the age of 29. Other names on the stone also are from the Hooper family, including John C. Hooper and Mary A. Hooper (possibly William’s parents), John Root and Helen Hooper Root, and a George Hooper, who all died after William.
The two stones and a citation in the office of Hugh MacKinnon, Windham veterans’ advisor, are the only accounts that could be found of William Hooper’s ground. The citation states Hooper was awarded the Medal of Honor as a corporal for action in a battle at Chamberlain’s Creek, Virginia, during the Civil War, MacKinnon said.
The rest of Hooper’s history, including why he was given the highest decoration bestowed on Army personnel, remains a mystery. MacKinnon, who only learned of the special stone on Friday, said the Medal of Honor is only given to individuals who go beyond the call of duty. ‘He had to do something outstanding to achieve this medal,” MacKinnon said.
The medal is a special honor for U.S. Army or Marine personnel, he said, adding that the first Medal of Honor recipients were 15 Union Army men sent on a mission into the South by President Lincoln.
The story of how the stone came to Willimantic also was rather mysterious, according to two local men who got involved in the stone’s placement.
Leonard Delehanty, town cemetery maintenance crew chief, said about two years ago, someone inquired about the location of Hooper’s gravestone. He helped the person find the grave and then forgot about it.
Last spring, another man, who also did not give his name, asked Delehanty about the
grave and indicated that Hooper was to receive a Medal of Honor monument. The same man also visited George Rice, owner of Tri-County Memorials of Windham, asking him if he would install the headstone. The man said he would handle all the paperwork involved, so Rice also put the visit out of his mind until last week when the 20-pound marble stone, fully inscribed, arrived by truck at his offices on Windham Road.
All that came with the stone was an invoice and the bill for placing the stone, which he is to send to the Department of Veterans Affairs in Rocky Hill.
“I thought it was rather unique 118 years later to finally get a monument,” said Rice
Friday as he and his son, Erik, marked the spot where the new stone would be placed.
Rice and Delehanty said they were glad the stone would be in such a prominent place in the Cemetery since it is one of a kind.
Mae Libera from the veteran’s affairs office said Friday the headstone was indeed legitimate and was one of several being placed around the country for the first time to
mark the graves of Medal of Honor recipients.
Libera also revealed that the name of the mystery man who had inquired about Hooper’s grave. He is Thomas F. Durning of New Haven, a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, who has been searching out the graves of Medal of Honor recipients all along the East Coast, Libera said. He has done the extensive research on his own, she added.
Libera had no information on Hooper, and Durning could not be reached for comment.
To add to the mystery of William Hooper, Delehanty said Hooper’s remains are not buried in the Willimantic Cemetery, “He’s not here. We have no record of his death.”’
No one could answer the question of why Hooper died in South America. But Delehanty said Hooper was probably buried in Chile as bodies were not normally transported at that time.
Unknown burial location. He is one of 314 Medal of Honor recipients whose final resting place is a mystery. An ‘In Memory Of’ government-issued headstone is in the Hooper plot, Old Willimantic Cemetery, 1385 Main Street, Willimantic, Connecticut. Attempts to get information from the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile, turned up no additional information. One of 314 Medal of Honor recipients whose final resting place is a mystery.
END