James Madison Cutts – Captain, United States Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1838 he earned the Medal of Honor during the Civil War while serving as Captain, 11th United States Infantry, at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864. The Medal was actually issued on May 2, 1891.

He died on February 24, 1903 and was buried in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery.

His grandson, James Madison Cutts III (April 5, 1891-June 8, 1951) who served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army from the District of Columbia is buried in the same section.


CUTTS, JAMES M.

Rank and organization: Captain, 11th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At  Wilderness; Spotsylvania; Petersburg, Virginia, 1864. Entered service at: Illinois. Birth: Washington, D.C. Date of issue: 2 May 1891.

Citation: Gallantry in action.jmcutts-book-cover

Book Description:

Hero of the Republic is the biography of triple Medal of Honor winner, James Madison Cutts, Jr. A gallant officer on the staff of General Ambrose E. Burnside, Madison was court-martialed for looking at a woman undressing in a hotel, publicly disgraced, and sentenced to be dismissed from the service.

President Lincoln, seeing treachery and jealousy in his court-martial, gave him a personal reprimand and sent him back to his unit with the Army of the Potomac.

Determined to regain his honor or die trying, Madison distinguished himself at the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg to such a degree that he was universally acclaimed as a hero of the Republic. For conspicuous gallantry in battle, he was awarded a triple Medal of Honor.


Hero of the Republic: Triple Medal of Honor Winner James Madison Cutts, Jr., by Bing G. Spider. 200 pages, 15 illustrations. Burd Street Press, 2001. $29.95.

“Colorful” hardly describes the career of this Union officer. From a prominent family and a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, Cutts joined the army in 1861 and was awarded a triple Medal of Honor, the only such medal ever issued, for bravery at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg. However the medal was not given until 1891, the delay due in part to a string of career-busting events. These include being caught peering over the transom at a married woman while she undressed, refusing a challenge to a duel, three courts martial, involvement with a pyromaniac army doctor, ripping the chevrons off one soldier's uniform and hitting another so hard that Cutts broke his own hand, and seizing property owned by an influential carpetbagger.


Cutts, Anna Payne (1779-1832). A younger, and beloved sister of Dolley Payne Todd Madison, whom Dolley called her “sister-child.” After Dolley's marriage to James Madison in 1794, Anna moved in with the Madison family until 1804, when she married Richard Cutts, a congressman from the Maine District of Massachusetts. The two sisters remained close until Anna's death in 1832, and Dolley greatly loved her sister's children.

Children: James Madison Cutts, Thomas Cutts, Walter Coles Cutts, Richard Cutts, Jr., Dolley Payne Madison Cutts, Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts, and Richard Dominicus Cutts.


James Madison Cutts Jr., related to both first lady Dolly Madison and Confederate spy Rose O' Neal Greenhow, records his service in the Army of the Potomac. Cutts witnessed the battles of Spotsylvania and Petersburg, and after having a court-marital reversed by President Lincoln, went on to be awarded three Medals of Honor.


jmcutts-gravesite-photo-august-2006

CUTTS, JAMES M

  • CAPT 11TH USINF
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/24/1903
  • BURIED AT: SECTION SOU.  SITE LOT 1371
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

CUTTS, JAMES MADISON

  • SGT MED DEPT USA
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 04/05/1890
  • DATE OF DEATH: 06/08/1951
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 1371
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

CUTTS, AMY P W/O JAMES MADISON III

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 05/30/1892
  • DATE OF DEATH: 04/17/1973
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 1371 CL
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  •  WIFE OF JM CUTTS III, SGT MED DEPT USA

jmcutts-gravesite-photo-october-2007-01 jmcutts3-gravesite-photo-october-2007-01

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