Posted on 07/06/2024 8:39:54 AM PDT by lowbridge
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.”
-snip
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.
Both the General and the Texas — one of the pursuing locomotives — survived and are in museums in Georgia; the General in Kennesaw’s Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, and the Texas in the Atlanta History Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
In any event, the CSA was free to award their soldiers whatever they want.
No argument there. It is silly to think that this modern Federal government would have anything but contempt for all those people who dared attempt to leave.
“My understanding of history, and correct me if I am wrong, is that they wanted to separate from the Washington DC government, not destroy it.”
You’re right. “All we want is to be left alone.” The Confederates had no wish to overthrow the US government.
Interesting point.
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