2 Civil War soldiers in Ohio receive the Medal of Honor posthumously

Two Civil War soldiers with ties to Ohio were honored by the White House on Wednesday.

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President Joe Biden posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to U.S. soldiers Phillip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson at the White House on Wednesday.

They were members of the Andrews’ Raiders, 22 men from Ohio who were members of the 2nd Ohio Infantry and the only two who had not previously been awarded the Medal of Honor due to a clerical error, according to Senator Sherrod Brown‘s office.

“Privates Shadrach and Wilson served our country heroically during the Civil War and made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the Union,” he said.

The descendants of Wilson and Shadrach accepted the medals on behalf of their ancestors.

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Both Shadrach and Wilson stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and drove it 87 miles north, destroying railroad tracks and telegraph lines while doing so, the Associated Press reported.

They were captured by the Confederates and executed by hanging.

Biden described the operation in which they took part as “one of the most dangerous missions of the entire civil war.”

“Every soldier who participated in that mission received the Medal of Honor, except for two. Two soldiers who died in that operation and never received that recognition,” he said Wednesday. “Today we right that wrong.”

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Brown had worked with former Springfield Congressman Dave Hobson to achieve the recognition.

“I am proud to have helped ensure that Pvt. Shadrach and Pvt. Wilson received the honors they rightfully deserve,” Hobson said. “What began with a request from a Fairfield County constituent led to my advocating for language in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 that would remove the three-year deadline for Soldiers to apply for the Medal of Honor so that this historic error could be corrected. While it is disappointing that the Army resisted this for so long, I am glad that my initial efforts helped lay the groundwork for the work of Senator Brown and others to advance the Soldiers’ case and make this recognition possible.”