Award 1 · First Medal of Honor
October 26, 1881
Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA
- Rank at action
- Ordinary Seaman
- Service
- U.S. Navy
- Conflict
- Interim 1871 - 1899
- Unit or command
- U.S.S. Kearsarge
The Citation
Sources ↓First Award: Serving on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge, at Hampton Roads, Va., 26 October 1881, Sweeney jumped overboard and assisted in saving from drowning a shipmate who had fallen overboard into a strongly running tide.
Preserved earlier transcription
Serving on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge, at Hampton Roads, Va., 26 October 1881, Sweeney jumped overboard and assisted in saving from drowning a shipmate who had fallen overboard into a strongly running tide.
SECOND AWARD
Serving on board the U.S.S. Jamestown, at the Navy Yard New York, 20 December 1883, Sweeney rescued from drowning A. A. George, who had fallen overboard from that vessel.
Sources & record notes
General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.
- Robert Augustus Sweeney — current Society profile (First Medal of Honor) ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-31
current identity, service, action metadata, award multiplicity, and citation comparison
Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
- Award ID
- MOH-AW-002712
- Transcription status
- Current-profile multi-award transcription
- Last source check
- 2026-08-31
- Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
- 326
- Accredited to
- New Jersey
- Archive transcription SHA-256
- 19fdc1a9b0ac1561da692ac840a2541c973524ee2b2c4bab4001551d922723a1
Legacy combined-row transcription preserved; separately documented current awards transcribed as distinct canonical award records.
Current Society evidence explicitly documents two separate awards for Robert Augustus Sweeney. The inherited combined row and citation remain preserved; the USS Kearsarge and USS Yantic awards are represented as separate canonical awards under one stable identity.