The Reason 25 March Is Medal of Honor Day —The Daring Civil War Raid That Started It All
Every year on March 25, the United States marks Medal of Honor Day, a date set aside to honor recipients of the nation’s highest military decoration for valor. But the day is not random. It traces back to one of the boldest and strangest missions of the Civil War—a train theft deep inside Confederate territory that turned a group of Union volunteers into the first Medal of Honor recipients in American history. The story is dramatic on its own, but it also feels newly relevant because that same raid was still making Medal of Honor history as recently as 2024.
The holiday began with the first Medal of Honor presentations
Congress established National Medal of Honor Day to encourage public appreciation of Medal of Honor recipients, and the first observance took place on March 25, 1991. That date was chosen because on March 25, 1863, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton presented the first Medals of Honor to six members of Andrews’ Raiders. In other words, Medal of Honor Day is tied directly to the moment the award entered American military history, not just to the broader idea of heroism.
The raid behind the date reads like a movie script.
The mission itself began on April 12, 1862. Led by civilian scout James J. Andrews, a team of 22 Union soldiers and 2 civilians slipped into Georgia in civilian clothes, boarded a train, and seized the locomotive General at Big Shanty, now Kennesaw. Their goal was simple on paper and wildly dangerous in practice: race north toward Chattanooga while tearing up track, cutting telegraph wires, and burning bridges to cripple a vital Confederate rail link. It was one of the earliest special operations in U.S. Army history.
What followed was the famous Great Locomotive Chase. The raiders damaged track and telegraph lines, but rain, rough terrain, and a shortage of proper tools slowed them down. Confederate pursuers — first on foot, then by rail — kept closing the gap. The stolen engine eventually ran out of steam and fuel north of Ringgold, Georgia, only about 18 miles south of Chattanooga. The men scattered, but all were eventually captured. Eight of them, including Philip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson, were executed.
A failed raid became the beginning of Medal of Honor history
Militarily, the mission failed. Symbolically, it became enormous. On March 25, 1863, six of the surviving raiders received the first Medals of Honor ever awarded. Jacob Parrott is widely recognized as the first individual service member to receive one. Over time, more of the raiders were also honored; according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 21 of the 24 participants in the Great Locomotive Chase ultimately received the Medal of Honor, while Andrews himself, as a civilian, was ineligible.
The story was still unfinished more than 160 years later
In July 2024, the U.S. government posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Shadrach and Wilson, two raiders who had died for the mission but had never received the decoration when their comrades did. Defense officials described the awards as finally completing a historical arc that began with the first Medal of Honor recipients. Their medals were presented at the White House, and their names were then added to the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.
Medal of Honor Day is not just a ceremonial date on the calendar. It is rooted in a real operation, a failed mission, a brutal pursuit, and a group of men whose courage reshaped how America recognizes battlefield valor. The holiday honors all Medal of Honor recipients, but its origin lies in one unforgettable Civil War raid, and remarkably, that story was still being rewritten in our own time.
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The post The Reason 25 March Is Medal of Honor Day —The Daring Civil War Raid That Started It All appeared first on warhistoryonline.
The Reason 25 March Is Medal of Honor Day —The Daring Civil War Raid That Started It All
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