The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Second Lieutenant Josiah M. Curtis, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 April 1865, while serving with Company I, 12th West Virginia Infantry, in action at Petersburg, Virginia. Second Lieutenant Curtis seized the colors of his regiment after two Color Bearers had fallen, bore them gallantly, and was among the first to gain a foothold, with his flag, inside the enemy’s works.