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Medal of Honor Recipient

John Kelley

U.S. Navy · U.S. Civil War

MOH-RC-002449Source-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: 1862

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.

Medal imagery and historical designs →

Medal of Honor

July 9, 1862

Roanoke River near Hamilton, North Carolina, USA

Rank at action
Second Class Fireman
Service
U.S. Navy
Conflict
U.S. Civil War
Unit or command
U.S.S. Ceres

The Citation

Sources ↓
Served as second-class fireman on board the U.S.S. Ceres in the fight near Hamilton, Roanoke River, 9 July 1862. When his ship was fired on by the enemy with small arms, Kelley returned the raking fire, courageously carrying out his duties through the engagement and was spoken of for "good conduct and cool bravery under enemy fires," by the commanding officer.

Sources & record notes

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

  1. John Kelley — 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-002460
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-08-30
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
11
Accredited to
Ireland
Archive transcription SHA-256
9be72f07dbedc8f83ee63af923d2e43ab7769735d4fe92e259f94ece8e6a8322

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 controlled canonical unit or command is U.S.S. Ceres; the current structured profile renders U.S.S. Ceres, and the inherited wording Not documented remains preserved as a separately attributed variant. The current authoritative evidence controls the action date as 1862-07-09 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 Roanoke River near Hamilton, North Carolina, USA; the current structured place Roanoke River near Hamilton, North Carolina, USA and the complete inherited geocoder value Roanoke River, North Carolina, 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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