Margaret Zerwekh, 90, of Delafield, Wis., has won her fight to have a Medal of Honor awarded to Lt. Alonzo Cushing, a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg.

She spent 23 years fighting to get Lieutenant Cushing honored for his brave service. In the beginning, politicians responded mostly with form letters. But in the early 2000s, Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, took up her cause, moved by the elderly woman's passion for a long-ago hero. He consulted historians, who affirmed Lieutenant Cushing's valor, and began a long push to ask the Army to award him the Medal of Honor.

Mr. Feingold said her work showed how ordinary people can shape the telling of history.

(READ the story w/ photo at the NY Times)