George W. Cutter
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - George W. Cutter
OR:
George W. Cutter on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

George W. Cutter (born c. 1849, date of death unknown) was a
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
.


Biography

Born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, in about 1849, Cutter joined the Navy from that state in 1868. By May 27, 1872, he was serving as a landsman on the . On that day, while the ship was at
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
, Seaman James Mitchell fell from ''Powhatans
rigging Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigg ...
and landed in the water; he was rendered helpless in the fall. Cutter and two others, Second Assistant Engineer George Cowie and Ordinary Seaman Henry Couch, jumped overboard and saved Mitchell from drowning. For this action, Cutter was awarded the Medal of Honor a month and a half later, on July 9. Cutter's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
On board the U.S.S. ''Powhatan'', Norfolk, Va., 27 May 1872. Jumping overboard on this date, Cutter aided in saving one of the crew of that vessel from drowning.


See also

*
List of Medal of Honor recipients during peacetime Prior to 1963, the Medal of Honor could be awarded for actions not involving direct combat with "an enemy of the United States" or "opposing foreign force (actions against a party in which the U.S. is not directly engaged in war with).DoD Awa ...


References


External links

* 1840s births Year of death missing Military personnel from Philadelphia United States Navy sailors United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients Non-combat recipients of the Medal of Honor {{US-navy-bio-stub