The Medal of Honor is the
United States' highest military decoration. It has been bestowed on 3,488 men and one woman
(a Civil War surgeon) since President Abraham Lincoln signed it into law on Dec. 21, 1861. It is reserved for those who are distinguished "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States."