COXSWAIN CHARLES H. SMITH MEDAL OF HONOR MEMORIAL GRAVESTONE

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Coxswain Charles H. Smith, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving on board the U.S.S. Rhode Island which was engaged in saving the lives of the officers and crew of the U.S.S. Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 30 December 1862. Participating in the hazardous rescue of the officers and crew of the sinking Monitor, Smith, after rescuing several of the men, became separated in a heavy gale with other members of the cutter that had set out from the Rhode Island, and spent many hours in the small boat at the mercy of the weather and high seas until finally picked up by a schooner 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras.