The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Luman Lewis Cadwell, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 20 September 1864, while serving with Company B, 2d New York Veteran Cavalry, in action at Alabama Bayou, Louisiana. Sergeant Cadwell swam the bayou under fire of the enemy and captured and brought off a boat by means of which the command crossed and routed the enemy.