The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal Winthrop D. Putnam, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 22 May 1863, while serving with Company A, 77th Illinois Infantry, in action at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Corporal Putnam carried, with others, by hand, a cannon up to and fired it through an embrasure of the enemy’s works.