Private Michael Dougherty (10 May 1844 – 19 February 1930) was an Irish soldier who fought in the American Civil War.
Dougherty received the country's highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for his action at Jefferson, Virginia, on 12 October 1863.
On 24 April 1865, he was placed aboard the Mississippi steamboat Sultana along with almost 2,000 other recently paroled Union prisoners of war.
Private Dougherty was eventually sent to Spring Mills, Pennsylvania, where he was discharged from the army on 27 June 1865.
[citation needed] At the head of a detachment of his company dashed across an open field, exposed to a deadly fire from the enemy, and succeeded in dislodging them from an unoccupied house, which he and his comrades defended for several hours against repeated attacks, thus preventing the enemy from flanking the position of the Union forces.