Civil War soldiers posthumously awarded Medal of Honor for daring Confederate railroad takeover – Clarksville Online

Washington, DC – US President Joe Biden on Wednesday posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to two Army soldiers for their actions in the Civil War on April 12, 1862.

Today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III inducted Privates Philip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, which enshrines the names of all service members who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

“The very first recipients of the Medal of Honor were a small group called the Andrews’ Raiders, named after a Union Army spy, James Andrews, who led one of the most daring operations of the entire Civil War,” Biden said. “Two soldiers … died in that operation but never received that recognition. Today we right that wrong. Today they finally get the recognition they deserve.”

At the award ceremony at the Hall of Heroes, Austin described both men as well-liked by their fellow citizens and willing to volunteer to help their country.

“One comrade recalled that Pvt. Shadrach was powerfully built, cheerful and easy-going, with an inexhaustible supply of good nature. Yet his brothers in arms could depend on him, as one said, to sacrifice anything for a friend,” Austin said. “Other soldiers said that Pvt. Wilson was tall and slim, with high cheekbones and sharp gray eyes. His comrades in arms sensed in him a greatness of soul that sympathized deeply with our struggle for national life.”

In April 1862, Shadrach and Wilson, both members of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, joined a group called “Andrews’ Raiders” on a mission that would later become known as “The Great Locomotive Chase.” The Raiders initially consisted of 22 soldiers and two civilians.

The raiders, led by Andrews, a civilian, planned a secret mission to covertly penetrate enemy territory into Georgia, steal a locomotive, and then travel north to Chattanooga, Tennessee, a city that Union soldiers wanted to capture.

“On the train ride, they would destroy enemy bridges, railroad tracks and telegraph lines, cut off communications and vital supply lines, and sabotage the railroad that the Confederate Army used to transport troops. All of that would make the Union capture of Chattanooga much more likely,” Biden said. “And that would cut off the Confederate Army from the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. A huge … strategic victory that could quickly end the war.”

Beginning on April 7, the group set out on foot from their location near Shelbyville, Tennessee, to travel to Chattanooga, where they planned to take a train south to Marietta, Georgia. During this first part of the mission, two soldiers were captured by Confederate forces, leaving only 20 soldiers and two civilians to continue.

On April 11, the remaining Raiders reached Chattanooga and in the late afternoon boarded a train heading south to Georgia. Around midnight, they reached Marietta, where they spent the night.

On the morning of April 12, the group awoke and boarded another train, this time heading north, back to Chattanooga. Two soldiers, however, did not make it aboard and remained behind.

During its journey north, the train stopped at a station called “Big Shanty” for passengers to eat breakfast. Here, the Raiders took control of the train’s locomotive, which was called “The General.”

“Quickly and quietly, they uncoupled three freight cars and a locomotive, jumped in and began driving north toward Tennessee at full speed,” Biden said.

Biden said the weather made their task more difficult, as did the presence of other trains on the route that they had not anticipated, all of which slowed the pace of their mission.

“By this time, Confederate troops were hot on their heels, but George, Philip and the rest of the Raiders did not give up,” Biden said. “They continued marching for nearly seven hours, destroying as many railroad tracks as they could and cutting as many telegraph lines as they could along the way.”

While the raiders were damaging Confederate communications networks—destroying railroad and telegraph lines—the machine ran out of steam north of Ringgold, Georgia, about 18 miles south of Chattanooga. There, the group disbanded and received orders to evade capture.

Eventually, however, all of the men who had been on the train, as well as the two men left behind in Marietta, were captured by Confederate forces. Eight of these men, including Shadrach, Wilson, and both civilians, were executed as prisoners of war.

“Pvt. Shadrach and Pvt. Wilson were among the first prisoners taken, and a Confederate military court sentenced them to death by hanging,” Austin said. “Pvt. Shadrach told his fellow prisoners that he sought comfort in his faith. Pvt. Wilson’s thoughts also turned to his trust in God and his faith in America. According to one account, Wilson was surrounded by a somber-faced crowd, but he spoke to them while standing beneath the gallows. Pvt. Wilson told this angry crowd that they would live to see the old Union restored and its flag flying over them again – and he was right.”

While the two civilians in the group were not eligible for the Medal of Honor, the soldiers were. However, Shadrach and Wilson were never nominated for the medal. More than 160 years later, the two soldiers were finally honored for their achievements during the war.

“Their heroic deeds went unnoticed for more than a century,” Biden said. “But time has not erased their courage.”

The Andrews’ Raiders were the first soldiers ever to receive the Medal of Honor, a newly created military award.

“Nearly a year after the Andrews attack, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton welcomed the surviving Raiders to Washington and presented them with a newly created award for valor, making them the first U.S. soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor,” Austin said. “Today, more than 160 years later, we close that historic arc and connect the first Medal of Honor recipients with the newest Medal of Honor recipients.”

At the Pentagon, Austin said Shadrach and Wilson’s names would finally join those of their fellow Raiders.

“The names of Pvt. Philip Shadrach and Pvt. George Wilson will forever be inscribed in the Hall of Heroes alongside their fellow Raiders,” Austin said. “Their medals are new, but their courage is eternal. On this Independence Day, their story reminds us of the American patriots who risked everything for our freedom and our unity and for our future of freedom under the law. Their story not only inspires us, it challenges us. So we are not just here to honor their sacrifice, we are here to live up to their example.”

Descendants of the two soldiers were on site at both the White House and the Pentagon to represent them.

At the ceremony at the White House, Shadrach’s great-great-grandson Gerald Taylor accepted the medal on his behalf. His great-great-granddaughter Theresa Chandler accepted the medal on Wilson’s behalf.