The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Joseph Rollin Prentice, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 31 December 1862, while serving with Company E, 19th U.S. Infantry, in action at Stone River, Tennessee. Private Prentice voluntarily rescued the body of his commanding officer, who had fallen mortally wounded. He brought off the field his mortally wounded leader under direct and constant rifle fire.