The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Coxswain Thomas Irving, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving on board the U.S.S. Lehigh, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 16 November 1863, during the hazardous task of freeing the Lehigh, which had grounded, and was under heavy enemy fire from Fort Moultrie. Rowing the small boat which was used in the hazardous task of transferring hawsers from the Lehigh to the Nahant. Coxswain Irving twice succeeded in making the trip, while under severe fire from the enemy, only to find that each had been in vain when the hawsers were cut by hostile fire and chaffing.