William Lowell Hill

Keeping a fallen sailor afloat until a launch arrived

William Lowell Hill earned the Medal of Honor at Newport, Rhode Island, on 22 June 1881. Serving as captain of the top aboard the Navy training ship Minnesota, he jumped into the water after William Mulcahy, a young crew member, fell overboard. Hill supported Mulcahy until a steam launch reached them. His award honors a direct rescue in a peacetime naval emergency, when entering the water and sustaining the endangered sailor provided the vital link between the fall and recovery.

Medal of Honor citation

Serving on board the U.S. training ship Minnesota at Newport, R.I., 22 June 1881, Hill jumped overboard and sustained William Mulcahy, third class boy, who had fallen overboard, until picked up by a steam launch.