03/25/2025
Today is National Medal of Honor Day 🏅🇺🇲🇺🇲
Today we will honor Northfield Townships own Medal of Honor Recipient, James W. Tobin. Tobin was born in Northfield Township November 23, 1845. His father Patrick Tobin, a native of Cullen, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland owned land on what is now Seven Mile Road on the Western edge of what would later be named Tobin Lake. Sergeant Tobin was 17 when he enlisted with Company C, 9th Michigan Cavalry, on January 22, 1863. From the very beginning he displayed marked courage. On December 7, 1864, a severe engagement took place at Cyprus Swamp Bridge, after which Captain Ladd and Lieutenant Bateman of Company C were reported missing. Sgt. Tobin asked and obtained permission to undertake a hazardous scout to determine the fate of the two officers. Accompanied by two comrades, he penetrated enemy lines, finding two newly dug graves. He and his companions dug up the graves and there they found the two officers they sought.
On March 9, 1865, while escorting wagon trains, the Colonel of the 9th Regiment asked for scouts who would ascertain the exact location of the enemy. Tobin and others volunteered and succeeded in obtaining information that saved the train.
At Aiken, South Carolina, On February 11, 1865, Sergeant Tobin distinguished himself most conspicuously. In desperate engagement, Major William C. Stevens, also a native of Northfield Township was unhorsed. Seeing that he would either be captured or killed, Tobin returned in the face of the advancing enemy, lifted his senior officer behind him on his horse and succeeded in reaching safety. This daring act won him the medal. Sergeant James W. Tobin was awarded the medal July 9, 1896. Not much is known of his later years, but he passed away in Lansing in 1903. He is buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Northfield Township. He has two markers in the cemetery, one next to that of his father and brother and another placed near the flagpole honoring him and the other Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery.
