Born in Donegal, Ireland on May 10, 1844, Michael Dougherty came to Bristol in 1858. In August 1862 he enlisted in the Union Army as a private in Company B, 13th Cavalry, Pennsylvania 117th Volunteer Regiment. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for most distinguished gallantry in action at Jefferson, Virginia, on October 12, 1863. He was confined in various Confederate prisons, including Andersonville Prison in Georgia. After his discharge in June 1865, he returned to his home in Bristol Borough, where he remained an honored and beloved citizen until his death in 1930, and he was buried in the St. Mark Churchyard in Bristol.