Private, United States Marine Corps, for distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy in battles while with the Eighth Army Corps on the 25th, 27th, 29th of March, and the 4th of April, 1899. (G.O. 55, July 19, 1901.)
Seaman on board of the U.S.S. _De Soto_; heroic conduct, with two comrades, in rescuing from drowning James Rose and John Russell, seamen, of the U.S.S. _Winooski_, off Eastport, Me., May 10, 1866. (G.O. 77, August 1, 1866.)
Private, United States Marine Corps, for bravery in crossing the river at Tientsin, June 20, 1900, in a small boat with three other men under a heavy fire and assisting to destroy building occupied by the enemy. (G.O. 84, March 22, 1902.)
Seaman on board of the U.S.S. _Lackawanna_ in the engagement in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864; severely wounded and sent below under the surgeon's charge; would not remain unemployed, but assisted the powder division until the action was over. (G.O. 45, December 31, 1864.)
Seaman on board of the U.S.S. _Wabash_; mentioned for gallant conduct in the assault on Fort Fisher January 15, 1865, and as having entered the stockade. (G.O. 59, June 22, 1865.)
MAJ. SMEDLEY D. BUTLER, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.
For distinguished conduct in battle, engagement of Vera Cruz, April 22, 1914; was eminent and conspicuous in command of his battalion. He exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through the action of the 22d and in the final occupation of the city. (G.O. 177, December 4, 1915.)
"On November 17, 1915, it was planned to attack Fort Riviere, Haiti, with a force made up of detachments from the Fifth, Thirteenth, Twenty-third Companies, and the marine detachment and sailors from the _Connecticut_. Fort Riviere was an old French bastion fort, about 200 feet on the side, with thick walls of brick and stone, the walls being loopholed. The original entrance had been on the northern side, but had been blocked, a small breach in the southern wall being used in its stead. As this breach in the wall was the only entrance to the fort, it was naturally covered by the defenders on the inside, making passage through it into the fort a most hazardous undertaking for the leading men. Notwithstanding the fact that the fire of the Cacos was constantly passing through this hole in the wall, Sergt. Ross L. Iams, Fifth Company, unhesitatingly jumped through, closely followed by Pvt. Samuel Gross of the Twenty-third company. A mêlée then ensued inside of the fort for about 10 minutes, the Cacos fighting desperately with rifles, clubs, stones, etc., during which several jumped from the walls in an effort to escape, but were shot by the automatic guns of the Fifth Company and by the Thirteenth Company advancing to the attack."