b. 03/11/1842 Ireland. d. 09/06/1897 New York.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 15/07/1862 Yazoo River, Mississippi.
John G Morrison MOH
Morrison was born in Ireland and came to the United States in 1855. Enlisting in the 30th New York Infantry at Lansingburgh, New York, 24 April 1861, he volunteered for service on gunboat USS Carondelet on 15 February 1862. He was appointed coxswain. He later received the Medal of Honor for exceptional bravery during an engagement on 15 July 1862, with Confederate ram CSS Arkansas in the Yazoo River. He was an inspiring example to the crew during Carondelet’s unsuccessful attempt to halt the ironclad ram’s progress through the Union blockade to the Mississippi River. . Coxswain Morrison was discharged from the Navy on 31 March 1863. In September 1864, he enlisted at Troy, New York in the 21st New York Cavalry Regiment, mustered in as a private, and mustered out in May 1865 at Bladensburg, Maryland.
MOH CITATION:
Served as coxswain on board the U.S.S. Carondelet, Morrison was commended for meritorious conduct in general and especially for his heroic conduct and his inspiring example to the crew in the engagement with the rebel ram Arkansas, Yazoo River, 15 July 1862. When the Carondelet was badly cut up, several of her crew killed, many wounded, and others almost suffocated from the effects of escaped steam, Morrison was the leader when boarders were called on deck and the first to return to the guns and give the ram a broadside as she passed. His presence of mind in time of battle or trial is reported as always conspicuous and encouraging.
BURIAL LOCATION: CYPRESS HILLS NATIONAL CEMETERY, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
SECTION 9, LOT 359, GRAVE 1.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
