Eddy received the country's highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for his action during the Battle of Sayler's Creek in Virginia on 6 April 1865.

[3] The forty-year-old blacksmith joined other men from the far western counties of Massachusetts in making up the core of the regiment.

During the reorganization with the arrival of Grant, Eddy and the 37th remained in VI Corps but were now in the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division.

It was after the victory at Petersburg, during the Battle of Sayler's Creek, that the forty-two-year-old performed the deeds that earned him the Medal of Honor.

During one of the periodic review of the official records, his performance at Sayler's Creek was put forward for the Medal of Honor.

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Samuel E. Eddy, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 6 April 1865, while serving with Company D, 37th Massachusetts Infantry, in action at Deatonsville (Sailor's Creek), Virginia.

Private Samuel E. Eddy saved the life of the adjutant of his regiment by voluntarily going beyond the line and there killing one of the enemy then in the act of firing upon the wounded officer.