While a man was dispatched from Richmond to Germany with the funds to have the medals struck he seems to have disappeared into thin air. Things got tough in the South and nobody ever recieved their medals. Instead a "Roll of Honor" was created and read to each Company that bore the names of them men selected for this honor. Here is the catch...
The award was granted by vote of each company after victory only. This requirement of victory by the army eliminated those equally brave who gave their all in losing efforts. Some companies refused to vote at all citing their belief of nobody should ever be singled out. Some companies protested and "voted" one to each member of the company when the guidelines stated only one winner per company. As you can see it created a little contraversy. Even Robert E. Lee was against the idea of individual medals but later, after these men had been selected, did seek to make sure they got them. I am proud of the fact the my grandpa Richard Chaddick was selected because to me it simply means his fellow soldiers recognized his efforts. But it doesn't mean he was any braver than my great-grandfather John Roberts who served in the same company and I suspect voted for Grandpa Richard Chaddick, who would one day be his son-in-law. John Roberts signed his oath of allegiance to the U.S. Novemeber 11, 1864.
Flash forward to the present. The Sons of Confederate Veterans does award a Medal of Honor but those who were selected in the war are not automatically granted one. They are simply carried on what is known as the "Confederate Roll of Honor". For someone to recieve the award today they have to have eyewitness written accounts of why they are deemed worthy. For instance Nathan Bedford Forrest was awarded for his actiona at Fallen Timbers and Sam Davis was awarded his for going to the gallows instead of revealing information and betraying the Cause. All my grandpa's service records state is that he was "Wounded in front of the lines" but several men are listed the same way.
Here is what the Roll of Honor recipients are entitled to by the SCV. A certificate to the SCV member son of said veteran. It will be signed by the the SCV Commander in Chief. When I called about getting Richard Chaddick's certificate the SCV Headquarters had forgotten about this because evidently I was the first (at least in a long time) to seek one of these. They found the certificates in storage. I don't show this off. It hangs on the wall in my bedroom and will someday serve as a reminder to my son to keep Richard Chaddick's name alive.
If anybody wants to read about all this and about the first 50 recipients of the SCV Medal of Honor get yourself a copy of Greg Clemmer's fine book "Valor in Gray". If you can read the first chapter and not feel touched there is something wrong. The book also contains the entire Confederate Roll of Honer as well as listing of several other medals.