Biden to bestow Medal of Honor on two Civil War heroes who helped hijack a train in confederacy
President Joe Biden is awarding the Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry” to a pair of Union soldiers who stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and drove it north for 87 miles as they destroyed railroad tracks and telegraph lines
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor on Wednesday for “conspicuous gallantry” to a pair of Union soldiers who stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the American Civil War and drove it north for 87 miles as they destroyed railroad tracks and telegraph lines.
U.S. Army Privates Philip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson were captured by Confederates and executed by hanging. Biden is recognizing their courage 162 years later with the country's highest military decoration.
The posthumous recognition comes as the legacy of the Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members — both Union and Confederate — between 1861 and 1865, continues to shape U.S. politics in a contentious election year in which issues of race, constitutional rights and presidential power are at the forefront.
Biden, a Democrat, has said that the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump was the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War. Meanwhile, Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, riffed at a recent Pennsylvania rally about the Battle of Gettysburg and about the Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
