Decatur Dorsey (1836 – July 11, 1891) was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of the Crater. Born into slavery, Dorsey enlisted in the United States Colored Troops and served through the last year of the war. Biography Early life Decatur Dorsey was born a slave in 1836 in what is now Howard County, Maryland. Dorsey, who was also known as Cato, may have been a slave to Upton Welsh, who died in July 1858. In October 1858, Dorsey was a slave to Upton Welsh's son, Napoleon B. Welsh. The Welshes lived near Gaither's Siding in Howard County. In 1858 Dorsey was convicted with another slave of burglarizing a store located in Woodbine, Carroll County, and was sentenced to serve two years eight months in the Maryland penitentiary. Prior to his committal to the prison, Dorsey escaped, but was recaptured in Baltimore. Dorsey completed his prison term in May 1861. At the time, Maryland law provided that upon the expiration of a slave's prison term, they were to be sold at auction and removed from the state. Dorsey was sold as a slave by the State of Maryland to Edward Rider, Jr. of Baltimore County. Military career On March 26, 1864, Decatur Dorsey enlisted in Company B of the 39th United States Colored Infantry as a private, but was promoted to corporal less than two months later, on May 17. Dorsey enlisted in the Army as a free man even though he had not been freed by Rider and was still a slave. (Rider would later be paid a $100 bounty as a result of Dorsey's enlistment). On July 30, 1864, Dorsey took part in the Battle of the Crater in Petersburg, Virginia. With the Siege of Petersburg at a stalemate, Union forces hoped to break the city's defenses by detonating explosives in a tunnel dug beneath the Confederate lines and charging the enemy positions in the aftermath of the explosion. The blast blew a huge crater in the Confederate defenses, and white Union soldiers rushed in to attack. Men who entered the crater became trapped as the Confederates regrouped and began firing down at them. Dorsey's division, which had been held in reserve, was then ordered to reinforce the attack. Dorsey, serving as the 39th Regiment's color