John Rountry

Extinguishing a fire beside a warship's magazine

John Rountry, also recorded as John Roundtree, was born in Massachusetts in 1843. He served in the United States Navy as a first class fireman aboard USS Montauk during the Civil War.

On September 21, 1864, off Port Royal, South Carolina, fire broke out in the ship's magazine lightroom. The alarm caused panic among the crew. Rountry forced his way through the crowd with a hose and extinguished the flames. The Navy announced his Medal of Honor in General Order No. 59 of June 22, 1865. The citation records his response to a fire in the lightroom adjoining the ship’s magazine.

He died on October 3, 1901, in New York City and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn. His citation preserves the record of a sailor who acted to protect his ship and crew when fire threatened the magazine area.

Official Medal of Honor citation:

Served as first class fireman on board the U.S.S. Montauk, 21 September 1864. During the night of 21 September, when fire was discovered in the magazine lightroom of that vessel, causing a panic and demoralizing the crew, Rountry, notwithstanding the cry of "fire in the magazine," forced his way with hose in hand, through the frightened crowd to the lightroom, and put out the flames.