Medal of Honor awarded to Samuel W. Davis, USS Brooklyn (1859)
Title: Medal of Honor, Samuel W. Davis, USS Brooklyn (1859)
Accession #: NHHC 1957-2-L
Circa: 1864
Size: 2 x 2.5
Medium: Bronze
Location: Headquarters Artifact Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command
Obverse: Five pointed bronze star tipped with trefoils containing a crown of laurel and oak. In the center is Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and warfare, standing with left hand resting on fasces and right hand holding a shield blazoned with the escutcheon of the United States. She repulses discord, represented by a male figure holding snakes. It is made of solid red brass, oxidized and buffed.
Reverse: engraved "Personal Valor / Samuel W. Davis / Ordinary Seaman / U.S.S. Brooklyn / Mobile Bay, Augt 5, 1864."
Citation for Award: For extraordinary heroism in action while serving on board the USS Brooklyn during successful attacks against Fort Morgan, rebel gunboats and the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, on 5 August 1864. Despite severe damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks from stem to stern, Davis exercised extreme courage and vigilance while acting as a look-out for torpedoes and other obstructions throughout the furious battle which resulted in the surrender of the prize rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.
