Sgt. John Pointon Beech

Born in England and raised in Trenton, John Beech was a worker at City Pottery before enlisting in the 4th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry at age 17. Despite being told he was too short to serve, he rose to the rank of Sergeant. He earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his extreme bravery at the "Bloody Angle" during the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864. When his battery’s crew was decimated by enemy fire, Beech voluntarily stepped in to work the guns under severe fire. A survivor of the infamous Libby Prison, he was officially honored with the Medal of Honor in 1894.