Medal of Honor
August 5, 1864
Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA
- Rank at action
- Second Captain of the Top
- Service
- U.S. Navy
- Conflict
- Civil War
- Unit or command
- USS Richmond
The Citation
Sources ↓As captain of a gun on board the U.S.S. Richmond during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Despite damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks, Smith fought his gun with skill and courage throughout a furious 2_hour battle which resulted in the surrender of the rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- John Smith — Congressional Medal of Honor Society recipient profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-09-01
current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-003320
- Transcription status
- Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
- Last source check
- 2026-09-01
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 45
- Accredited to
- New York
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 7f1b8fa4c28a502f71afc187a74d63dc3d889aad8be20f79978f20eb11c2409d
Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; rendered current reference profile comparison is documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.
The USS Richmond profile is selected by ship and rank, distinct from the Lackawanna and Shenandoah recipients of the same name.