Captain Lee Nutting was one of five from the 61st New York Infantry to earn the Medal of Honor in the Civil War. It was at Todd’s Tavern May 8, 1864 in Spottsylvania, Va. In charge of the color guard, he faced Confederate attacks from north and west before leading a counter charge, was wounded and discharged two weeks later. A breast pocket Bible with the bullet hole that saved him from a fatal wound is said to be in family possession, though I have never seen it.

Capt. Nutting and Lt. Charles Fuller were the two who delivered dedication speeches for the regiment’s Wheatfield Monument at Gettysburg July 1, 1889. Nutting was host for many regimental reunions at his home in Brooklyn, N.Y.

One of his two daughters, Olive, married my grandfather, Romeyn Berry, at Crescent Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada, Sept. 21, 1908.