The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private George Washington Walton, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 29 August 1864, while serving with Company C, 97th Pennsylvania Infantry, in action at Fort Hell, Petersburg, Virginia. Private Walton went outside the trenches, under heavy fire at short range, and rescued a comrade who had been wounded and thrown out of the trench by an exploding shell.