The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Coxswain Robert Jordan, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while attached to the U.S.S. Minnesota and temporarily serving on the U.S.S. Mount Washington, during action against the enemy in the Nansemond River, Virginia, 14 April 1863. When the Mount Washington drifted against the bank following several successive hits which struck her boilers and stopped her engines, Coxswain Jordan boarded the stricken vessel and, for six hours as fierce artillery and musketry continued to rake her decks, calmly assisted in manning a 12-pound howitzer which had been mounted on the open hurricane deck.