Award 1 · First Medal of Honor
March 16, 1883
Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii
- Rank at action
- Seaman
- Service
- U.S. Navy
- Conflict
- Interim 1871 - 1899
- Unit or command
- U.S.S. Lackawanna
The Citation
Sources ↓For jumping overboard from the U.S.S. Lackawanna, 16 March 1883, at Honolulu, T.H., and rescuing from drowning Thomas Moran, landsman.
Preserved earlier transcription
FIRST AWARD
For jumping overboard from the U.S.S Lackawanna, 16 March 1883, at Honolulu, T.H., and rescuing from drowning Thomas Moran, landsman.
SECOND AWARD
Serving on board the U.S.S. Lackawanna, Williams rescued from drowning William Cruise, who had fallen overboard at Callao Peru, 13 June 1884.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- Louis Williams — Congressional Medal of Honor Society recipient profile (First Medal of Honor) ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-09-01
current identity, service, action metadata, award multiplicity, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-002773
- Transcription status
- Current-profile multi-award transcription
- Last source check
- 2026-09-01
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 326
- Accredited to
- California
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 236ec8e1f7969e1bf76580bad3ef795de354b4421eb85116510e33058ca21793
Legacy combined-row transcription preserved; separately documented current awards transcribed as distinct canonical award records.
Official Society records identify one recipient and two separate Medals of Honor.