I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. I. Kimball,
In charge of life-Saving Service.
Colonel J. S. Crosby, U. S. Consul at Florence, Italy, for rescuing the life of Miss Edith May, and endeavoring to rescue the late Miss Adele Hunter, and Mr. W. T. Garner and his wife, at the sinking of the Yacht "Mohawk," in New York Harbor, July 20, 1876. Awarded June 8, 1877.
Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary,
Washington, D. C., June 30, 1877.
To
Colonel J. Schuyler Crosby,
United States Consul, Florence, Italy.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a life-saving medal of the first class, and which has been awarded to you, under authority of the provisions of the seventh section of the Act of Congress approved June 20, 1874, for the extreme and heroic daring manifested by you in saving the life of Miss Edith May, and endeavoring to rescue the late Miss Adele Hunter and Mr. William T. Garner and his wife, under the circumstances of peculiar peril and difficulty which attended the sinking of the yacht "Mohawk," on the 20th of July, 1876.
The sorrowful catastrophe of that day will not soon be forgotten, and will be all the more remembered for the noble manhood it called into action. The vessel sank within four minutes. In that brief time you saved one life from the sinking cabin. There you re-entered, and remained until submerged, engaged in the desperate and heroic efforts to save the others, escaping yourself finally only by swimming upward through the broken sky-light, guided by the faint light shed from the above through the water. In sending you this medal, the highest recognition of your conduct which the Government can give, it is felt that no words can add distinction to the splendid gallantry which the token seeks to commemorate and honor.
I have the honor to be, Sir, very respectfully,
John Sherman,
Secretary.
Carl Fosberg, for endeavoring to save the late Miss Adele Hunter and Mr. William T. Garner and his wife, at the sinking of the Yacht "Mohawk," in New York Harbor, July 20, 1876. Awarded June 8, 1877.