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Medal of Honor Recipient

John H. Ferrell

U.S. Navy · U.S. Civil War

MOH-RC-002316Source-based record

The award

Representative medal image: early Navy star design and striped ribbon. Not a portrait or a photograph of this recipient’s own medal.
Navy Medal of HonorAction-era reference: 1864

Portrait not yet available. Representative medal shown.

About this image

Presentation date is not usable for design selection. This is an action-era reference; a later presentation or replacement medal may differ.

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Medal of Honor

December 6, 1864

Bells Mills, Cumberland River, near Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Rank at action
Pilot (civilian)
Service
U.S. Navy
Conflict
U.S. Civil War
Unit or command
U.S. Monitor Neosho

The Citation

Sources ↓
Served on board the U.S. Monitor Neosho during the engagement with enemy batteries at Bells Mills, Cumberland River, near Nashville, Tenn., 6 December 1864. Carrying out his duties courageously during the engagement, Ferrell gallantly left the pilothouse after the flag and signal staffs of that vessel had been shot away and, taking the flag which was drooping over the wheelhouse, make it fast to the stump of the highest mast remaining although the ship was still under a heavy fire from the enemy.

Sources & record notes

General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.

  1. John H. Ferrell — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-30

    current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison

Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
Award ID
MOH-AW-002327
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-08-30
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
59
Entered service at
Illinois
Archive transcription SHA-256
c6cd95bce2f313ff7da38dbe5f2f09d2f880c0d9919a0f582dfef36da02455b5

Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; rendered current reference profile variants documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.

The inherited rank-1 Society candidate was confirmed by substantive comparison of identity, service, rank, unit or command, action context, and citation; candidate rank or successful rendering alone was not treated as verification. The exact current profile heading is John H Ferrell; the controlled display name is John H. Ferrell, and both forms remain preserved. The controlled canonical unit or command is U.S. Monitor Neosho; the current structured profile renders U.S. Monitor Neosho, and the inherited wording Not documented remains preserved as a separately attributed variant. The current authoritative evidence controls the action date as 1864-12-06 and classifies the action under U.S. Civil War; the inherited unnormalized date and conflict values remain preserved in the audit record. The controlled historical action place is Bells Mills, Cumberland River, near Nashville, Tennessee, USA; the current structured place Bells Mills, Cumberland River, near Nashville, Tennessee, USA and the complete inherited geocoder value Nashville, TN, USA remain preserved in the audit evidence. The inherited full citation remains canonical and checksum-protected; current rendered wording is preserved separately where transcribed. No underlying General Order was examined, so the exact-order gate remains pending and no General Order verification is claimed.

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