The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Quartermaster Samuel Todd, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while stationed at the conn on board the U.S.S. Brooklyn during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, Alabama, 5 August 1864. Despite severe damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks from stem to stern, Quartermaster Todd performed his duties with outstanding skill and courage throughout the furious battle which resulted in the surrender of the prize rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.