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Medal of Honor Recipient

Thomas Bourne

U.S. Navy · Civil War

MOH-RC-002202Source-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: 1862

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.

Medal imagery and historical designs →

Medal of Honor

April 24, 1862

Forts Jackson and St. Philip, Louisiana, USA

Rank at action
Seaman and Gun Captain
Service
U.S. Navy
Conflict
Civil War
Unit or command
USS Varuna

The Citation

Sources ↓
Served as captain of a gun on board the U.S.S. Varuna during an attack on Forts Jackson and St. Philip and while under fire and ramming by the rebel ship Morgan, 24 April 1862. During this action at extremely close range while his ship was under furious fire and was twice rammed by the rebel ship Morgan, Bourne remained steadfast at his gun and was instrumental in inflicting damage on the enemy until the Varuna, badly damaged and forced to beach, was finally sunk.

Sources & record notes

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

  1. Thomas Bourne — 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-002212
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-08-30
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
11
Later or highest recorded rank
Chief Quartermaster
Entered service at
New York, N.Y.
Archive transcription SHA-256
fa2fe92df60fb3c65ea93ab1b5117c1ed4fa83fc63fd2c3cb7ade59a5972f3bf

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, action context, and citation; candidate rank or successful rendering alone was not treated as verification. The controlled action rank is Seaman and Gun Captain; the current profile also records a later or highest rank of Chief Quartermaster. Action and later ranks remain separately attributed. The current profile records USS Varuna; the inherited unit field Not documented remains preserved as a source variant. The previously unnormalized action date is controlled as 1862-04-24 from the current authoritative profile. The controlled historical action place is Forts Jackson and St. Philip, Louisiana, USA; the complete inherited geocoder value Fort Jackson, NY 12965, USA remains preserved in the audit evidence. The current authoritative profile classifies the action under Civil War; the inherited unclassified value remains preserved in the audit record. No underlying General Order was examined, so the exact-order gate remains pending and no General Order verification is claimed.

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