The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government, bestowed by the United States Congress on members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in combat or military conflict. It honors selfless sacrifice for freedom and for fellow human beings, and pays tribute to Medal of Honor recipients who were either born in or whose award was accredited to the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Those named include Civil War recipients William B. Avery, William J. Babcock, James Albert Barber, George Newman Bliss, Zenas Randall Bliss, John Knight Bucklyn, James H. Burbank, Benjamin Ham Child, John Corcoran, James Cutts, James Madison, John Edwards, Charles D. Ennis, John H. Havron, Thomas Hayes, Samuel E. Lewis, George E. McDonald, Archibald Molbone, Thomas Parker, George W. Potter, George E. Privince, George E. Read, Hazard Stevens, Joseph Taylor, and James Welsh; Indian Campaigns recipients Owen McGar and Thomas Smith; Mexican Campaign recipient George Bradley; World War I recipient Francis Edward Ormsbee, Jr.; World War II recipients George J. Peters and Robert T. Waugh; Korean War recipient David Bernard Champagne; Vietnam War recipient John Philip Baca; and peacetime award recipients Matthew Gillick, Philip Moore, Michael Walsh, and Thomas Eadie.