Union Civil War soldiers posthumously awarded Medals of Honor

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

What did they do? Shadrach and Wilson were executed after hijacking a Confederate train during a Union mission. They were part of a group of over 20 men who volunteered to sneak behind Confederate lines in April 1862, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Their mission was to cut off a Confederate Army supply line to Chattanooga, Tenn. The men boarded the train and stole the locomotive while it was stopped in Georgia, taking it north through enemy territory and destroying telegraph lines and train rails as they went. Confederate soldiers pursued them for seven hours until the stolen locomotive began to run out of fuel. The Union men abandoned the locomotive and dispersed into the woods. All were captured.

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

Dig deeper: Read Elias Ferenczy’s report in The Sift about a veteran who served in the Vietnam War receiving a Medal of Honor.