Medal of Honor
July 30, 1864
Petersburg, Virginia, USA
- Rank at action
- Sergeant
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Conflict
- U.S. Civil War
- Unit or command
- Company B, 39th U.S. Colored Troops
The Citation
Sources ↓Planted his colors on the Confederate works in advance of his regiment, and when the regiment was driven back to the Union works he carried the colors there and bravely rallied the men.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- Decatur Dorsey — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-27
current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison
- Decatur Dorsey — U.S. Army Medal of Honor citation index ↗U.S. Army Medal of Honor citation index · Checked 2026-08-27
official Army unit wording, action metadata, and citation
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-000719
- Transcription status
- Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
- Last source check
- 2026-08-27
- Other source unit wording
- Company B, 39th U.S. Colored Infantry
- Later or highest recorded rank
- First Sergeant
- Entered service at
- Baltimore County, Md.
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- eb101633cba09cae451a4714a94bc506bc2a64d7e42d80ba27a67909d2dd066c
Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; current rendered profile variants documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.
Current Society identity and action record confirmed. The Society structured unit says 39th U.S. Colored Infantry, while the Army index and inherited citation say 39th U.S. Colored Troops; both official forms are preserved and the Army/inherited form is canonical.