Charles A. Read (born Johan A. Linderoth, October 23, 1837May 7, 1865) was a Union Navy sailor in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

who received the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

for valor in action during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Military service

Read was born in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1837. On June 19, 1864, he was serving as a

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on the

sloop of war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all ...

when she sank the

commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...

off

Cherbourg, France Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.Cemetery of the Evergreens The Cemetery of the Evergreens, also called The Evergreens Cemetery, is a non-denominational rural cemetery along the Cemetery Belt in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City. It was incorporated in 1849, not long after the passage of New York's Ru ...

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. Read's death notice in the May 9, 1865, New York Herald newspaper read:

Suicide By Taking Poison - At a late hour on Sunday night officer Tucker, of the Fourteenth precinct, was called to the house No. 98 Mott street to take charge of Mr. Charles Reed, who, he was informed, had swallowed a dose of laudanum while suffering from temporary derangement of mind, for the purpose of terminating his existence. Mr. Reed, being in a state of insensibility at the time, was conveyed to the New York Hospital, where he soon afterwards died. Deceased was about thirty years of age and a native of Sweden. He had been following the sea for a living. Coroner Wildey was notified to hold an inquest.

References

: * 1837 births 1865 deaths 1865 suicides Union Navy sailors United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients Swedish emigrants to the United States Foreign-born Medal of Honor recipients American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor Drug-related suicides in New York (state) Suicides in New York City Drug-related deaths in New York City {{AmericanCivilWar-bio-stub

Military service

See also

References