Background
Wilson Wright Brown was born December 25, 1837 in Logan County, Ohio, and enlisted September 6, 1861 at Findlay, Ohio in Company F, 21st Ohio Infantry, mustering into service September 19, 1861.
Wilson Wright Brown was born December 25, 1837 in Logan County, Ohio, and enlisted September 6, 1861 at Findlay, Ohio in Company F, 21st Ohio Infantry, mustering into service September 19, 1861.
He first saw action at Ivy Mountain, Kentucky., November 8–9, 1861. Chosen by James Andrewsfor his abilities as a locomotive engineer, as he had been an engineer on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad before the war, he took part in the Andrews’ Raid (Great Locomotive Chase) in April 1862. The raid sought to cut off Confederate supply lines from Atlanta to Chattanooga, by going behind Confederate lines and destroying the Western & Atlantic Railroad.
Captured by the Confederates, he was imprisoned in Atlanta’s old Fulton County Jail for most of 1862 before escaping with seven of his fellow raiders.
He was promoted to Sergeant, November 1, 1862. He later saw action at the Battle of Stones River, December 31, 1862 - January 3, 1863, at Dug Gap, Georgia, September 11, 1863 and was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga.
He was discharged May 15, 1864. In the 1950s Disney Studios released the movie The Great Locomotive Chase to herald the exploits of the Andrews Raid.
He was portrayed by actor Stan Jones in the film.
He is buried in New Belleville Ridge Cemetery, Dowling, Ohio. As a result of the court settlement, the original 1863 medal was placed in a Veteran’s Administration outpatient clinic in Toledo, Ohio. The other medal, issued in 1904 when the medal was redesigned, was donated, along with Brown’s papers, to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, Kennesaw, Georgia., near the location where the raid began.
In 1863, Brown was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions during the raid. There is a Medal of Honor marker at grave. The nearby Ohio Historical marker erected June 27, 1965, identifies him as Medal of Honor recipient. In 2012, his descendants went to court to settle a dispute over whether Brown’s Medals of Honor should be donated to a museum. The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private Wilson W. Brown, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in April 1862, while serving with Company G, 21st Ohio Infantry, in action during the Andrew"s Raid in Georgia.
