President Biden on Wednesday posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to two Civil War-era soldiers he praised for defending America and the values on which it was founded.
Biden, speaking from the White House, praised Unip. Philip G. Shadrach and Pvt. George D. Wilson for an April 12, 1862 mission behind Confederate lines.
“His heroic deeds went unrecognized for more than a century, but time has not erased his valor,” Biden said.
Biden added that Thursday’s Fourth of July, which marks the United States’ 248th birthday, was “another reminder of why it’s so important to know our history” and “not erase our history.”
“Remember, the sacred cause of American democracy did not constitute a lost cause to justify the evil of slavery,” he said. “Remember the nation that George and Philip fought and died for, the United States of America, is who we are.”
The descendants of Shadrach and Wilson accepted the Medal of Honor from Biden, who presented them with the awards folded inside a display case.
Soldiers honored Wednesday with the nation’s highest military honor participated in one of the first special forces missions in U.S. Army history.
The mission, known as the Great Locomotive Pursuit, which inspired the 1926 American silent film classic “The General,” saw Union soldiers infiltrate the Confederacy by posing as civilians.
They hijacked a train in Georgia called The General and drove it north 87 miles while destroying train tracks and cutting telegraph wires. The group abandoned the train near Chattanooga, Tennessee, but were captured two weeks later.
Shadrach and Wilson were among 22 men involved in the mission that is also known as Andrews’s Raid for James J. Andrews, who masterminded the infiltration mission. Andrews and seven others, including Shadrach and Wilson, were hanged as spies in Atlanta.
Another group of men were taken into captivity and later released in a prisoner exchange and eventually received the Medal of Honor – the first to receive the honor in the Army.
Biden said both Shadrach and Wilson faced an “enormous” risk and had the opportunity to abandon the mission.
“Philip, George, every man had a chance to leave. None of them did. None of them left,” Biden said Wednesday.
According to Biden, Wilson faced the mob before he was hanged and declared that he believed they were wrong.
“But he harbored no hostility toward the people of the South. He said it was not them, but their leaders, who were responsible for the rebellion,” Biden said. “And he said the time would come when unity would be restored and the American flag would fly over the entire nation once again.”
Biden added that until “the end, George and Philip believed in the United States of America,” a nation founded on the idea of equality.
“We don’t always live up to that, but like George and Philip, we never stray from that either,” the president said.
Shadrach is a Pennsylvania native who enlisted at age 21 in the 2nd Union K Infantry Regiment in Ohio.
Wilson, from Ohio, enlisted in Union Company B, 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at the age of about 32.
In 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law a measure to finally recognize Wilson and Shadrach for the Medal of Honor.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
