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Medal of Honor Recipient

William Williams

U.S. Navy · U.S. Civil War

MOH-RC-002763Source-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.

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Medal of Honor

November 16, 1863

Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, USA

Rank at action
Landsman
Service
U.S. Navy
Conflict
U.S. Civil War
Unit or command
U.S.S. Lehigh (true ship U.S.S. Nahant)

The Citation

Sources ↓
On board the U.S.S. Lehigh, Charleston Harbor, 16 November 1863, during the hazardous task of freeing the Lehigh, which had been grounded, and was under heavy enemy fire from Fort Moultrie. After several previous attempts had been made, Williams succeeded in passing in a small boat from the Lehigh to the Nahant with a line bent on a hawser. This courageous action while under severe enemy fire enabled the Lehigh to be freed from her helpless position.

Sources & record notes

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

  1. William Williams — 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-002777
Transcription status
Legacy full text · current reference profile matched
Last source check
2026-09-01
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
32
Accredited to
Pennsylvania
Archive transcription SHA-256
49f45cabb1735e53b23ab69783f4aae18fcb3f35214e41ffdf5813883a2e5df9

Legacy transcription retained without substantive editing; rendered current reference profile comparison is documented in the Phase 10 evidence snapshot.

Preserve the Society structured unit wording exactly, including its parenthetical.