During the Battle of Hatcher’s Run on February 5th, 1865, General Gouverneur K. Warren’s 5th Corps moved forward from their entrenchments at 7 am, crossing Rowanty Creek near the location of Monk’s Neck Bridge. Warren discovered the Confederates had destroyed the bridge, and that a crossing would have to be forced. The 190th Pennsylvania Infantry and the 4th Delaware Infantry of Brigadier General James Gwyn’s Brigade were ordered forward to drive the Confederates from their defensive positions on the opposite bank. However, the creek was deep and partially frozen over. At 11 am, the Pennsylvanians and Delawareans advanced. The Pennsylvanians soon were bogged down in the deep water, and it fell upon the 4th Delaware to force the crossing. As the Delawareans passed their division commander, General Romeyn Ayres   yelled out to Major Daniel H. Kent of the 4th Delaware, “You are expected to carry the bridge, if you lose every man!” Captain Samuel Rodmond Smith would write, “The ground was slightly rolling and open farm-land, except near the bank of the stream, where a thin skirt of trees bordered the river, affording some cover…. There was considerable floating ice in the stream.” Using these trees on the bank for cover from the enemy’s fire, the 4th Delaware was halted. Lieutenant David E. Buckingham realized he needed to do something. “It was no time to hesitate or turn back,” wrote Buckingham. Wanting to inspire his men in his company, he tried to step out on the ice. However, “it broke under my weight and I struck out for the rebel side and was soon beyond my depth, but I swam to the south side, the Minie balls skimming the water all around me.” Captain Smith also attempted to inspire the 4th Delaware to move forward. He found what seemed to be a shallow spot in the stream, but Smith was wrong. He would late write, “The water proved to be over six feet deep within that distance from the shore, but I was a strong swimmer, and although encumbered by a haversack belt and cape overcoat, succeeded in reaching a small island in mid-stream, under a heavy plunging fire which splashed the water around me.” Buckingham and Smith did inspire their comrades in the 4th Delaware. They followed these officers and attempted to cross by any means possible — felling trees and walking across, shuffling across the places where the ice was the thickest, and swimming the distance. “From thence all hands slid and waded to the opposite shore and we carried the enemy’s entrenchments with a rush, capturing some fifty or sixty rebels,” Smith recounted. “When the enemy discovered they were flanked they beat a retreat and the bridge was ours,” recalled Buckingham. “I reswam the river and dried my clothes beside a roaring fire which the boys had made while the engineers rebuilt the bridge.” A bridge was constructed quickly following the brief engagement, and the rest of the 5th Corps passed over Rowanty Creek by late afternoon. At 5 pm, Warren’s 5th Corps boys reached the Vaughan Road, and went into bivouac near the Hargrave House, three miles from Dinwiddie Court House.

For their actions on February 5th, 1865, Lieutenant David E. Buckingham and Captain Samuel Rodmond Smith of the 4th Delaware Infantry were awarded the Medal of Honor.