John S . Darrough John Samuel Darrough ( April 6 , 1841 – August 14 , 1920 ) was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of the United States military ' s highest decoration , the Medal of Honor , for his actions during a skirmish near Eastport , Mississippi . Born in Kentucky , Darrough moved to Illinois as a child and enlisted in the Union Army from that state . While participating in a mission to destroy a Confederate railway , Darrough and others were stranded on the shore of the Tennessee River under intense enemy fire . Although he had found a canoe with which to cross the river safely , he voluntarily returned to the Confederate - held shore to rescue a fellow soldier who was in danger of drowning . Early life . Darrough was born Maysville , Kentucky , to Samuel Vogan and Ricey Ann Quaintance Darrough . By 1850 , the family had moved to neighboring Mason County , where they owned a large farm . In 1855 they moved again , this time to Iroquois County , Illinois , where Darrough would live the rest of his life . Military service . Darrough enlisted in the Army from Concord , Illinois , on August 12 , 1862 . He served in Company F of the 113th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment , and by October 10 , 1864 , had reached the rank of sergeant . On that day , his regiment was dispatched from Memphis , Tennessee , to Eastport , Mississippi , to destroy train tracks and a bridge used by the Confederates . The regiment was transported up the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers by two steam - powered gunboats . As the men disembarked from the boats onto the south bank of the Tennessee River just downstream of Eastport , they came under fire from a concealed battery of Confederate artillery . The battery was at close range , and its fire proved devastating to both the men and the boats . The gunboats immediately withdrew from the shore , without having time to take up their gangplanks . The men on shore , including Darrough , were now stranded and under intense fire . As one boat engaged the Confederates , the other proceeded downstream and , after reaching a point which was partly out of range of the artillery , pulled alongside the shore and took on all the soldiers who had reached that point . Darrough was unable to reach the boat in time and was again stranded as it pulled away from shore . He continued to follow the riverbank downstream until a deep bayou blocked his path . Deciding that his only option to avoid being killed or captured was to swim the mile - wide river , and knowing that his clothes and gun would weigh him down , he began looking for a log to float on . As he searched the bank , he found a canoe hidden in the reeds . Overjoyed , he jumped in and paddled out into the river , hoping to either catch up with the gunboats , which had headed downstream , or cross to the other side of the river and rejoin the Union forces by foot . As he paddled , he looked back and noticed a Union man struggling in the water along the Confederate - held shoreline . The soldier , Captain A . W . Becket of Company B , had attempted to cross the bayou but part - way through found himself too weak to continue ; Becket had been ill and had left his sickbed to participate in the mission . Despite the risk , Darrough turned his canoe around and headed back towards the Confederates and the struggling man . He succeeded in getting Becket into the canoe , and then safely reached the opposite shore . For these actions , he was awarded the Medal of Honor several decades later , on February 5 , 1895 . Darrough ' s official Medal of Honor citation reads simply : " Saved the life of a captain . " During his military service , Darrough was wounded and once escaped from Confederate captivity . After the war , he returned to Iroquois County where he resided until his death at age 79 . He was buried at the GAR Cemetery in Watseka , Illinois . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Sergeant , Company F , 113th Illinois Infantry . Place and date : At Eastport , Miss . , 10 October 1864 . Entered service at : Concord , Morgan County , Ill . Birth : Kentucky . Date of issue : 5 February 1895 . Citation : Saved the life of a captain .