The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal Thomas C. Murphy, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 22 May 1863, while serving with Company I, 31st Illinois Infantry, in action at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Corporal Murphy voluntarily crossed the line of heavy fire of Union and Confederate forces, carrying a message to stop the firing of one Union regiment on another.