To the Senate of the United States:
By virtue of the authority contained in the sixth section of the act of 21st April, 1864, which enacts "that any officer in the naval service, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may be advanced not exceeding thirty numbers in his own grade for distinguished conduct in battle or extraordinary heroism," I recommend Commander William H. Macomb, United States Navy, for advancement in his grade ten numbers, to take rank next after Commander William Ronckendorff, for distinguished conduct in the capture of the town of Plymouth, N. C., with its batteries, ordnance stores, etc., on the 31st October, 1864, by a portion of the naval division under his Command. The affair was executed in a most creditable manner.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Abraham Lincoln, Special Message Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/202632