b. 07/07/1840 Plaistow, New Hampshire. d. 26/02/1916 Amesbury, Massachusetts.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 27/10/1864 Plymouth, North Carolina.
Daniel G George MOH
George was born in Plaistow, New Hampshire, on July 7, 1840. He first served during the Civil War in Company D, 1st Massachusetts Cavalry; enlisting September 16, 1861, for three years; mustered on September 17, 1861, as a Private; appointed 1st Sergeant February 8, 1863; re-enlisted January 1, 1864. George transferred to the Union Navy on May 7, 1864, as an Ordinary Seaman, under the alias name of William Smith; served on the USS North Carolina and USS Chicopee; volunteered from the Chicopee as one of the crew of U.S. Picket Boat No. 1 with Lieutenant William B. Cushing in the destruction of Rebel Ram CSS Albemarle near Plymouth, North Carolina; hurled into the Roanoke River by the explosion of the spar torpedo that sank the Albemarle and captured October 27, 1864; prisoner at the Confederate military prison in Salisbury, North Carolina until the close of war. He was discharged April 26, 1866, as a Coxswain from the Chicopee.
MOH CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Ordinary Seaman Daniel Griffin George, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving on board U.S. Picket Boat No. 1, in action near Plymouth, North Carolina, 27 October 1864, against the Confederate ram, Albemarle, which had resisted repeated attacks by our steamers and had kept a large force of vessels employed in watching her. The picket boat, equipped with a spar torpedo, succeeded in passing the enemy pickets within 20 yards without being discovered and then made for the Albemarle under a full head of steam. Immediately taken under fire by the ram, the small boat plunged on, jumped the log boom which encircled the target and exploded its torpedo under the port bow of the ram. The picket boat was destroyed by enemy fire and almost the entire crew taken prisoner or lost.
BURIAL LOCATION: LOCUST GROVE CEMETERY, MERRIMAC, MASSACHUSETTS.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
