SMITH, JOHN
Rank and Organization: Second Captain of the Top, U.S. Navy. Born 1826, Albany,
N.Y. Accredited To: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864.
Citation:
As captain of a gun on board the U.S.S. Richmond during action against rebel forts and
gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Despite damage to his
ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks, Smith fought his
gun with skill and courage throughout a furious 2-hour battle which resulted in the
surrender of the rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at
Fort Morgan.
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