The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Commissary Sergeant Ambrose Porter, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 7 August 1864, while serving with Company D, 12th Missouri Cavalry, in action at Tallahatchie River, Mississippi. Commissary Sergeant Porter was one of four volunteers who swam the river under a brisk fire of the enemy’s sharpshooters and brought over a ferry boat by means of which the troops crossed and dislodged the enemy from a strong position.