The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to First Lieutenant & Adjutant Josiah O. Livingston, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 February 1864, while serving with 9th Vermont Infantry, in action at Newport Barracks, North Carolina. When, after desperate resistance, the small garrison had been driven back to the river by a vastly superior force, First Lieutenant Livingston, with a small force held back the enemy, personally fired the railroad bridge, and, although wounded himself, assisted a wounded officer over the burning structure.