Biden to award Medal of Honor to Union soldiers in 'one of the earliest special operations' in Army history

President Biden will on Wednesday posthumously award the Medal of Honor to two Union soldiers who pirated a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and then drove it 87 miles north, destroying railroad tracks and telegraph lines along the way. 

Private Philip G. Shadrach and Private George D. Wilson will receive the honor for their gallantry and intrepidity while participating in a covert military operation 200 miles behind Confederate lines on April 12, 1862, which became known as the Great Locomotive Chase.