The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Major John Calvin Curtis, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 5 August 1862, while serving with 9th Connecticut Infantry, in action at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sergeant Major Curtis voluntarily sought the line of battle and alone and unaided captured two prisoners, driving them before him to regimental headquarters at the point of the bayonet.