The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant John P. Beech, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 12 May 1864, while serving with Company B, 4th New Jersey Infantry, in action at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia. Sergeant Beech voluntarily assisted in working the guns of a battery, all the members of which had been killed or wounded.