The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Quartermaster William Wells, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving as Landsman and lookout on board the U.S.S. Richmond during action against rebel forts and gunboats and with the ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay, Alabama, 5 August 1864. Despite damage to his ship the loss of several men on board as enemy fire raked her decks, Quartermaster Wells performed his duties with skill and courage throughout a furious two-hour battle which resulted in the surrender of the rebel ram Tennessee and in the damaging and destruction of batteries at Fort Morgan.
