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Medal of Honor Recipient

John S. Hickman

U.S. Navy · U.S. Civil War

MOH-RC-002398Source-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: 1863

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

March 14, 1863

Port Hudson, Louisiana, USA

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

The Citation

Sources ↓
Served on board the U.S.S. Richmond in the attack on Port Hudson, 14 March 1863. Damaged by a 6-inch solid rifle shot which shattered the starboard safety-valve chamber and also damaged the port safety-valve, the fireroom of the U.S.S. Richmond immediately became filled with steam to place it in an extremely critical condition. Acting courageously in this crisis, Hickman persisted in penetrating the steam-filled room in order to haul the hot fires of the furnaces and continued this action until the gravity of the situation had been lessened.
Separately preserved current-source wording

Captured from the linked current recipient source; it is not a new comparison with an original General Order.

Served on board the U.S.S. Richmond in the attack on Port Hudson, 14 March 1863. Damaged by a 6-inch solid rifle shot which shattered the starboard safety-valve chamber and also damaged the port safety valve, the fireroom of the U.S.S. Richmond immediately became filled with steam to place it in an extremely critical condition. Acting courageously in this crisis, Hickman persisted in penetrating the steam-filled room in order to haul the hot fires of the furnaces and continued this action until the gravity of the situation had been lessened.

Sources & record notes

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

  1. John S. Hickman — 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-002409
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-08-30
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
17
Accredited to
Virginia
Archive transcription SHA-256
d49c69a6e76db46babe280a953f7758ce7be7b35be9a5667674ef9a8e4f6767a

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

The canonical reference profile was recovered through a controlled archival reference search outside the inherited candidate set and then confirmed by substantive comparison of identity, service, rank, unit or command, action context, and citation; successful rendering alone was not treated as verification. The current authoritative source expands or normalizes the inherited name from John Hickman to John S. Hickman; both renderings remain preserved. The exact current profile heading is John S Hickman; the controlled display name is John S. Hickman, and both forms remain preserved. The controlled canonical unit or command is U.S.S. Richmond; the current structured profile renders U.S.S. Richmond, and the inherited wording Not documented remains preserved as a separately attributed variant. The current authoritative evidence controls the action date as 1863-03-14 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 Port Hudson, Louisiana, USA; the current structured place Port Hudson, Louisiana, USA and the complete inherited geocoder value Port Hudson, LA 70791, 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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