John Taylor
Service/Branch: U.S. Navy
Rank: Seaman
Biography not available.
Citation: Seaman in charge of the picket boat attached to the Navy Yard, New York, 9 September 1865. Acting with promptness, coolness and good judgment, Taylor rescued from drowning Commander S. D. Trenchard, of the U.S. Navy, who fell overboard in attempting to get on a ferryboat, which had collided with an English steamer, and needed immediate assistance.
Date of issue: January 15, 1866
There is a description of the event in the book Reminiscences of the Old Navy:
"HAVING passed through the Civil War in the most creditable manner, Commander Trenchard nearly met death in a most prosaic way. On the close of the war, he was appointed executive officer of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and on September 9, 1865, while in a picket-boat in the East River, he witnessed a collision between a ferry-boat and an English steamer. Observing that the ferry-boat was in need of assistance, Trenchard directed his men to run alongside, and in attempting to gain the deck of the ferry-boat he missed his footing and fell into the swift current of the river, where, in the confusion of the moment, he undoubtedly would have been drowned, had it not been for the prompt assistance given by John Taylor, a seaman who was in charge of the picket-boat. Taylor, with rare coolness and judgment, gave the necessary orders for extricating his boat from its position, and in a few moments rescued his commander."
Maclay, Edgar Stanton (1898). Reminiscences of the Old Navy: From the Journals and Private Papers of Captain Edward Trenchard and Rear-Admiral Stephen Decatur Trenchard. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 341–2.
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