THE two remaining guns were now pushed to within twenty feet of the rebels. Before long there was just one gun, and just two men to work it: William Hall, and gunnery officer Lieutenant Thomas Young.

Doing the work of six under relentless enemy fire, they front-loaded and fired their solitary 24-pounder until the wall was breached, and the rebels driven back. Hall and Young were among five of Shannon’s crew, and sixteen men in total, who won the Victoria Cross on that day, November 16th. Three days later, the men, women and children trapped in the Residency were evacuated after a four-month ordeal.

William retired in 1876 to his farm at Horton Bluff, Nova Scotia, but in 1901 he turned out for a parade in honour of a visit by George, Duke of Cornwall and York, son of King Edward VII. William’s medals caught George’s eye, and he did not squander the chance to talk to the first black recipient of the Victoria Cross.