Two Civil War soldiers with ties to Ohio received recognition from the White House on Wednesday.
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President Joe Biden posthumously awarded the Medals of Honor to U.S. soldiers Phillip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson at the White House on Wednesday.
They were members of the Andrews’ Raiders, 22 men from Ohio, who were members of the 2nd Ohio Infantry and the only two who had not previously been awarded the Medal of Honor because of a clerical error, according to Senator Sherrod Brown‘s office.
“Privates Shadrach and Wilson served our country heroically during the Civil War, making the ultimate sacrifice to protect the Union,” he said.
Wilson and Shadrach’s descendants accepted the medals on behalf of their ancestors.
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Both Shadrach and Wilson stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and drove it 90 miles north, destroying railroads and telegraph lines, the Associated Press reported.
They were captured by the Confederacy and hanged.
Biden called the operation they took part in “one of the most dangerous missions of the entire Civil War.”
“Every soldier who served on that mission received the Medal of Honor, except two. Two soldiers died because of that operation and never received this recognition,” he said Wednesday. “Today we are righting that wrong.”
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Brown worked with former Springfield Congressman Dave Hobson to secure the recognition.
“I am proud to have played a role in ensuring that Private Shadrach and Private Wilson received the honor they deserved,” Hobson said. “What began as a request from a Fairfield County constituent led to my sponsoring language in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 that waived the three-year deadline for the soldiers’ Medal of Honor applications, allowing this historic mistake to be corrected. While it is disappointing that the Army resisted this for so long, I am pleased that my initial efforts helped lay a foundation for the work of Senator Brown and others to advance the soldiers’ cause and make this recognition possible.”
