The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Surgeon William Robert Douglas Blackwood, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 April 1865, while serving with 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, in action at Petersburg, Virginia. Surgeon Blackwood removed severely wounded officers and soldiers from the field while under a heavy fire from the enemy, exposing himself beyond the call of duty, thus furnishing an example of most distinguished gallantry.