The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Captain George W. Corliss, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 9 August 1862, while serving with Company C, 5th Connecticut Infantry, in action at Cedar Mountain, Virginia. Captain Corliss seized a fallen flag of the regiment, the Color Bearer having been killed, carried it forward in the face of a severe fire, and though himself shot down and permanently disabled, planted the staff in the earth and kept the flag flying.