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Photo # NH 105627:  Medal of Honor awarded to Luke M. Griswold

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Ordinary Seaman Luke M. Griswold, USN, (Born in 1837)

Luke M. Griswold was born in 1837 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy from that state and served as an Ordinary Seaman on board USS Rhode Island. On 30 December 1862, Griswold was a member of a cutter crew sent through hazardous seas to rescue survivors from the sinking USS Monitor. When the heavy gale blew his boat away from the rescue area, he and his companions spent many hours "at the mercy of the weather" until they were picked up off the North Carolina coast. For his performance on that occasion, Griswold was awarded the Medal of Honor.

This page features the only image we have concerning Luke M. Griswold.


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Photo #: NH 105627

U.S. Navy Medal of Honor


Reverse of a Medal of Honor awarded to Ordinary Seaman Luke M. Griswold, USN, of USS Rhode Island, for his work in rescuing USS Monitor survivors on 30 December 1862, and subsequently surviving in a small cutter when it was separated from the ship by hazardous gale-wind seas.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 26KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 



Medal of Honor citation of Ordinary Seaman Luke M. Griswold, USN (as printed in the official publication "Medal of Honor, 1861-1949, The Navy", page 27):

"Served on board the U.S.S. Rhode Island which was engaged in saving the lives of the officers and crew of the Monitor, 30 December 1862. Participating in the hazardous rescue of the officers and crew of the sinking Monitor, Griswold (name incorrectly given as "Horton" in source book), after rescuing several of the men, became separated in a heavy gale with other members of the cutter that had set out from the Rhode Island, and spent many hours in the small boat at the mercy of the weather and high seas until finally picked up by a schooner 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras."


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 24 March 2008