President Biden will posthumously award the Medal of Honor on Wednesday to two Union spies who stole a Confederate locomotive during the Civil War.
At a White House ceremony, Mr. Biden will recognize the heroism of Pvts. Phillip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson, who each served in the Union Army with the 2nd Ohio Infantry Regiment — Shadrach in Company K and Wilson in Company B.
They are among the last of the group known as Andrews’ Raiders to receive the honor, with many receiving it immediately after the Civil War.
The Medal of Honor is America’s highest military honor. Of the 40 million who have served in the Armed Forces since the Civil War, only roughly 3,500 have earned it.
The ceremony will take place on the eve of the nation’s Independence Day.
Shadrach and Wilson will receive their Medals of Honor more than 160 years after they were executed by the Confederacy for their role in what’s known as the ill-fated Great Locomotive Chase.
The two soldiers were part of Andrews’ Raiders — an infamous group of two civilians and several infantrymen — who in April 1862 donned civilian clothes and stole a Confederate locomotive near Kennesaw, Georgia.
The Raiders fled northward toward Chattanooga, ripping up railroad tracks and destroying telegraph lines and bridges to disrupt communications in the rebel areas of the South. However, the train ran out of fuel near Ringgold, Georgia.
They abandoned the locomotive, fleeing into the countryside, but were soon captured by Confederate troops.
Confederate soldiers took the Raiders, including Shadrach and Wilson, to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they were convicted of “bridge burning.” They were then moved to Atlanta where seven of the Raiders, including civilian scout James Andrews along with Shadrach and Wilson, were hanged in June 1862.
Another eight Raiders escaped the Atlanta jail and, in March 1863, the remaining six were exchanged in a prisoner swap.
The six who were exchanged as prisoners were the first Medal of Honor recipients in the nation’s history.
In all, between 1863 and 1884, 19 Raiders were Medal of Honor recipients. A medal was offered to another soldier, who declined to accept it because he’d been stopped by Confederate troops and never made it to Georgia.
The White House said it was unclear why Shadrach and Wilson were not originally recommended for the Medal of Honor, noting both met all of the qualifications to be honored.
In January 2008, President George W. Bush signed legislation authorizing the United States to award the Medal of Honor to Shadrach and Wilson.
However, it took more than 16 years and three administrations for the two soldiers to receive their honor. The White House did not explain those delays.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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