By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will posthumously award the Medal of Honor on Wednesday to two U.S. Army soldiers who were part of a brave contingent of Union soldiers who stole a Confederate train during the Civil War, the White House said.
Philip Shadrach and George Wilson will receive the medals during a ceremony at the White House honoring their “valor and intrepidity” during the so-called Great Locomotive Chase, one of the first special operations in the history of the U.S. military, the White House said.
The operation took place 200 miles behind Confederate lines on April 12, 1862. Union soldiers, disguised as civilians, hijacked a train in Georgia and rode it 90 miles north into Tennessee. They placed explosives on the tracks behind them as they headed north to destroy Confederate infrastructure.
Six of those participants became the first recipients of the military’s newly created Medal of Honor. Over the next two decades, another 13 service members were recognized for their roles in the mission, but Shadrach and Wilson, both of whom were hanged for their actions after being captured, have never been recognized until now.
The White House ceremony offers Biden a brief respite from mounting criticism from some of his fellow Democrats following his shaky and tentative performance in last week’s presidential debate against former Republican President Donald Trump.
The mission saw 24 men infiltrate the South in small groups, meeting north of Atlanta in Marietta, Georgia. On the day the operation was carried out, 22 of the men commandeered a locomotive known as “The General” and headed north, destroying railroad tracks and cutting telegraph wires.
Shadrach, a Pennsylvania native who was orphaned at a young age, was only 21 years old when he signed up for the dangerous mission. Wilson, an Ohio native, was a shoemaker who enlisted in the Union Army in August 1861.
The White House said it was not clear why Shadrach and Wilson were not originally recommended for the Medal of Honor.
The Medal of Honor is awarded to members of the armed forces who have displayed great personal valor or self-sacrifice and distinguished themselves at the risk of their lives in military action.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
