Two Union soldiers posthumously receive Medal of Honor for carrying out daring mission behind Confederate lines
Haley Britzky
By Haley Britzky, CNN
Updated 5:19 PM EDT, Wed July 3, 2024
These portraits restored by the US Army Visual Information Office show Private Philip G. Shadrach and Private George D. Wilson.
US Army CNN —
Two Union soldiers from the American Civil War were posthumously awarded with the Medal of Honor by President Joe Biden on Wednesday, more than 160 years after being executed for their part in a daring mission against the Confederacy.
“Private Philip G. Shadrach and Private George D. Wilson will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for their gallantry and intrepidity while participating in a covert military operation 200 miles behind Confederate lines on April 12, 1862,” a White House official said Wednesday morning. “In one of the earliest special operations in US Army history, Union Soldiers dressed as civilians infiltrated the Confederacy, hijacked a train in Georgia and drove it north for 87 miles, destroying enemy infrastructure along the way.”
Biden awarded the medals in a ceremony at the White House with descendants of Shadrach and Wilson in attendance.
“Tomorrow is the Fourth of July — another reminder of why it’s so important to know our history, not to erase our history. To remember the sacred cause of American democracy, and not make up a lost cause to justify evil of slavery. To remember the nation that George and Philip fought for and died for, the United States of America,” Biden said during the ceremony. “That’s who we are. That’s who we are. The United States of America. There’s nothing, nothing beyond our capacity in the United States if we work together.”
His remarks come as the president is under intense scrutiny for his performance in last week’s presidential debate. His son, Hunter Biden, who was recently found guilty on three felony gun charges, was also in attendance at Wednesday’s ceremony.
Shadrach and Wilson were members of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1862 when they joined 20 other Union soldiers, and two civilians, to infiltrate Confederate territory.
The raid, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, involved the soldiers commandeering a locomotive known as the General that was on its way toward Chattanooga. They would stop occasionally along the route to “tear up track, switches, and bridges, inflicting as much damage as possible.” The Confederates began chasing the General in handcars and locomotives, at some points even on foot, eventually catching up to them and forcing the Union soldiers to abandon it.
They were all captured within two weeks, and found guilty of “acts of unlawful belligerency,” according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
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