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Medal of Honor Recipient

Robert Teleford Clifford

U.S. Navy · U.S. Civil War

MOH-RC-002250Source-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

August 22, 1863

New Topsail Inlet, off Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Rank at action
Master-at-Arms
Service
U.S. Navy
Conflict
U.S. Civil War
Unit or command
U.S.S. Shokokon

The Citation

Sources ↓
Served on board the U.S.S. Shokokon at New Topsail Inlet off Wilmington, N.C., 22 August 1863. Participating in a strategic plan to destroy an enemy schooner, Clifford aided in the portage of a dinghy across the narrow neck of land separating the sea from the sound. Launching the boat in the sound, the crew approached the enemy from the rear and Clifford gallantly crept into the rebel camp and counted the men who outnumbered his party 3 to 1. Returning to his men, he ordered a charge in which the enemy was routed, leaving behind a schooner and a quantity of supplies.

Sources & record notes

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

  1. Robert Teleford Clifford — 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-002260
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-08-30
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
45
Later or highest recorded rank
Master's Mate
Accredited to
Pennsylvania
Archive transcription SHA-256
59a74f53d5da235c3ad61d4ebeed3efc57de37d876573ac326e33d02b133a2d0

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 current authoritative source expands or normalizes the inherited name from Robert T. Clifford to Robert Teleford Clifford; both renderings remain preserved. The current source documents the following alias or alternate identity form(s) on the same controlled identity: Kelley, Robert Teleford. The action rank Master-at-Arms remains distinct from the later or highest rank Master's Mate. The controlled canonical unit or command is U.S.S. Shokokon; the inherited wording Not documented remains preserved as a separately attributed variant. The current authoritative evidence controls the action date as 1863-08-22 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 New Topsail Inlet, off Wilmington, North Carolina, USA; the complete inherited geocoder value Wilmington, NC, USA remains 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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