WATCH: Biden issues Medal of Honor to Civil War soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederacy
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U.S. Army Pvts. Philip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson were captured by Confederates and executed by hanging. Biden on Wednesday is recognizing their courage 162 years later with the country's highest military decoration.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry to two Union soldiers who stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and drove it north for 87 miles (140 kilometers) as they destroyed railroad tracks and telegraph lines.

  • SSTF@lemmy.world
    1·
    5 months ago

    Almost all of the soldiers in the Andrews raid were awarded Medals Of Honor in the 1860s. Shadrack and Wilson were captured and executed by the Confederacy, and didn’t get medals. This long post humous award is in line with what they seemingly should have earned by being part of the raid. (The medals were authorized for both of them in 2008, so the extended delay in actually presenting them is something to look into.)