Talk:John Wainwright (soldier)

Latest comment: 6 years ago by 47thPennVols in topic Copy edit query

Article title incorrect?

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Why is "Medal of Honor" part of the article title? Shouldn't it be "John Wainwright (military officer)" or similar? (unsigned and undated question by prior poster)

  • The article title, "John Wainwright (Medal of Honor)" is correct, and should not be changed. The phrase "Medal of Honor" has been used in the titles of articles for multiple U.S. military officers to help Wikipedia readers differentiate between medal winners who had the same surname and to differentiate soldiers with the same surname who won the medal from those who did not. Changing the parenthetical from "Medal of Honor" to "military officer" would, therefore, create an inconsistency between the formatting of multiple articles. Additionally, the use of "Medal of Honor" rather than "military officer" is particularly important in this officer's case because there were two men named "John Wainwright" in the same immediate family, and both became U.S. military officers. (The father won the Medal of Honor for his service as a military officer during the American Civil War; the son became a notable naval officer; so relabeling as "John Wainwright "military officer" would create unnecessary confusion.) 47thPennVols (talk) 13:03, 10 September 2018 (UTC)Reply

Copy edit query

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Is there a reason why "Three Months' Service" is capitalised? (I am aware of the 90 day volunteers.) Gog the Mild (talk) 20:11, 10 September 2018 (UTC)Reply

  • It's a style convention used by a number of Civil War researchers at academic institutions, archivists, et. al. (I suspect the phrase may have evolved from "Three Months' Men", which was used to differentiate Civil War vets with short-term service records from those who served for three-year terms and/or the duration of the war.) As with a number of American Civil War terms, there are a range of variants (3-month men, three months' service, etc.). 47thPennVols (talk) 22:50, 10 September 2018 (UTC)Reply