George Prance (1827-1885): Medal of Honor Recipient, U.S. Navy; Committed Suicide

George Prance Old and New Gravestone (2025)

Grand Army of the Republic, Plot 12

 

George Prance’s life spanned continents, oceans, and ultimately the defining conflict of his adopted country. Born in France around 1827, he immigrated to the United States as a young man and volunteered for the Union Navy during the Civil War. His enlistment was credited to Massachusetts, which suggests he entered the service shortly after arrival. Assigned to the sloop-of-war USS Ticonderoga, Prance served as Captain of the Main Top, a senior deck rating responsible for supervising sailors aloft and commanding one of the ship’s heavy guns in battle.

Prance distinguished himself during the attacks on Fort Fisher, the last major coastal fortress protecting the Confederacy’s crucial port at Wilmington, North Carolina. In two separate assaults—December 24–25, 1864, and January 13–15, 1865—the Ticonderoga was heavily engaged, bombarding the fortifications to clear the way for the combined Army-Navy storming party led by Adm. David Dixon Porter and Gen. Alfred Terry. With Confederate artillery returning fierce bombardment, an onboard disaster struck: one of the ship’s 100-pounder Parrott rifles exploded, killing eight crew members and wounding twelve more. Amid the carnage, Prance remained at his station and continued directing fire with “skill and courage,” helping silence the massive land batteries whose guns were killing and wounding Union troops on the beach.

USS Ticonderoga (1862)

For this steadfastness under fire, the United States awarded him the Medal of Honor, formalized in War Department General Orders No. 59 (June 22, 1865). His citation highlights both his leadership and the Ticonderoga’s critical role in enabling the Union assault that finally captured the fort—an action that sealed the Confederacy’s last Atlantic supply line and hastened the end of the war.

After the conflict, Prance migrated west and found work on dredging crews in the Oakland harbor, a physically grueling profession. He became active in the George H. Thomas Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the leading veterans’ organization for Union soldiers and sailors. Friends and comrades regarded him as a respected, if quiet, presence in their ranks.

Prance’s final years were marked by hardship. He lost an eye in an accident while working for the California Harbor Commissioners, and a bill before the Legislature to compensate him failed to pass. Discouraged and drinking heavily, he died by suicide on April 3, 1885, at the Park House in Oakland’s Temescal district. The coroner’s verdict recorded him as single, a native of France, and 60 years old.

Navy Medal of Honor

Eligibility for a New Headstone

George Prance qualifies for a government-issued headstone because Medal of Honor recipients are automatically entitled to federal grave markers, regardless of the age of the burial, the condition of the grave, or whether a private marker is present. Under Veterans Affairs regulations (38 U.S.C. § 2306 and 38 C.F.R. § 38.630), the Medal of Honor is among the highest categories of service warranting permanent commemoration. Any descendant, researcher, cemetery official, or veterans’ organization may request such a marker on his behalf.