Union soldiers in the Civil War received posthumous medals of honor

Private Philip Shadrach and Private George Wilson were inducted into the Medal of Honor Hall of Heroes by the U.S. Department of Defense on Independence Day. The induction ceremony at a Virginia military base came after President Biden on Wednesday posthumously awarded the Union Civil War soldiers the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military valor in action.

What have you done? Shadrach and Wilson were executed after hijacking a Confederate train during a Union mission. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, they were part of a group of over 20 men who volunteered to sneak behind Confederate lines in April 1862. Their mission was to cut off a Confederate Army supply line to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The men boarded the train and stole the locomotive while it was stopped in Georgia. They drove it north through enemy territory, destroying telegraph lines and railroad tracks along the way. Confederate soldiers pursued them for seven hours until the stolen locomotive ran out of fuel. The Union men abandoned the locomotive and scattered into the woods. All were captured.

What happened to the other men? The Confederates convicted Shadrach and Wilson and at least six others as spies and executed them. The rest either escaped or were exchanged between armies. Nineteen other men from the mission received the Medal of Honor before Shadrach and Wilson received it. Over 1,500 Medals of Honor were awarded to those who served in the American Civil War, the most ever awarded in any conflict.

Dig deeper: Read Elias Ferenczy’s account of a veteran who served in the Vietnam War and was awarded the Medal of Honor.