John Milton Deane (January 8, 1840 – September 2, 1914) was an American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and a major in the United States Army.

In Massachusetts, companies of militia were based in various towns and had individual, distinct unit identities as a source of civic pride.

The 3rd Massachusetts was organized for active service on April 15, 1861, in response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops to put down the insurrection in the southern states.

The Assonet Light Infantry, as Company G, received word to mobilize from its commander, Colonel David W. Wardrop of New Bedford, Massachusetts, during the night of April 15–16.

Arriving via ship at Fort Monroe in the morning of April 20, 1861, Deane crossed Hampton Roads on board the USS Pawnee to the Gosport Navy Yard.

Deane's company and the regiment returned aboard the Pawnee which towed the USS Cumberland to Fortress Monroe, saving the frigate from falling into enemy hands.

In executing this assignment, the 3rd Massachusetts claimed that they were the first Union troops to make an incursion on territory held by the Confederacy.

On July 1, the regiment was ordered to occupy Fort Calhoun and the town of Hampton, Virginia just four miles from the Monroe.

[5] Confederate forces were massing nearby at Big Bethel and the post was considered a dangerous one due to the proximity of the enemy and the secessionist sentiments of the local population.

After teaching in Assonet for one school year, Deane was offered and accepted a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 29th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

"[13] Historian Daniel Callaghan quotes period sources describing the "unlikely matching of ancient political foes," and the manner in which the men of the 29th tolerated the Irish-born commander of the Irish Brigade, Brig.

[14]" Deane and his fellow Yankees made it work as the 29th Massachusetts and the rest of the brigade fought well together, earning plaudits for hard campaigning during the Seven Days Battles; most notably at Savage's Station, Glendale, and Malvern Hill.

After Malvern Hill, Deane, the 29th, and the rest of the brigade remained at Harrison's Landing while other units were transferred to northern Virginia during the summer of 1862 to fight under Gen. John Pope.

After Pope was defeated during the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30, 1862, the 29th Massachusetts joined the Army of the Potomac south of Washington.

[2] On 5 February 1863, the 29th as part of IX Corps, transferred to the Department of the Ohio and Union operations in Kentucky and east Tennessee.

In September 1863, Deane detached and reported to temporary duty at Draft Rendezvous, Boston Harbor[1] where he helped organize, process, and escort recruits to the fronts.

[2] In the pre-dawn hours of June 17, the divisions of the IX Corps formed up for an assault on the entrenched Confederate position outside Petersburg.

According to the regimental historian, "They had scarcely emerged upon the open plain, when the whole crest of the Confederate works was fringed with fire and smoke; grape, canister, and musket balls filled the air.".

Despite this incident, Confederate troops achieved complete surprise just before dawn and easily overran Fort Stedman entering the rear sally port almost unchallenged.

[28] The 29th was crucial in the victory at the Battle of Fort Stedman on 25 March for which Deane won the Medal of Honor for his conduct.

At the end of the next school year, he left teaching and went into business as a partner in Hathaway & Deane in Fall River in general merchandise.

[31] With Mary, he had three children: in 1885, he became involved with the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an early veterans' organization, when he joined the Richard Borden Post No.

His wife, Mary was alongside him helping establish the auxiliary of the GAR, the Woman's Relief Corps, at the Richard Borden Post.

In a letter dated March 8, 1895, Col. W. F. Ainsworth informed Deane that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor "for most distinguished gallantry in action at Fort Steadman, Virginia, March 25, 1865, in serving with other volunteers, a previously silenced and abandoned gun, mounted en barbette, at Fort Haskell, being exposed to a galling fire from the enemy's sharpshooters."