b. 25/12/1837 Logan County, Ohio. d. 25/02/1916 Toledo, Ohio.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 04/1862 Andrews Raid, Georgia.
Wilson W Brown MOH
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, KY, November 8–9, 1861. Chosen for his abilities as a locomotive engineer, he took part in Andrews’ Raid (Great Locomotive Chase) in April 1862. Captured by the Confederates, he was imprisoned for most of 1862 before being exchanged. Brown was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions during the raid. 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 years after the war, Wilson Brown remained friends with fellow raider Jacob Parrott. He married Married Clarissa Lowman, July 12, 1863. Edith Gertrude Brown, one of his eight children, subsequently married Jacob Parrott’s only son, John Marion Parrott. 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.
In 2012, his descendants went to court to settle a dispute over whether Brown’s Medals of Honor should be donated to a museum. 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, Ga., near the location where the raid began.
MOH CITATION:
he 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. Private Brown was one of the 19 of 22 men (including two civilians) who, by direction of General Mitchell (or Buell), penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Georgia, in an attempt to destroy the bridges and track between Chattanooga and Atlanta.
BURIAL LOCATION; NEW BELLEVILLE RIDGE CEMETERY, DOWLING, OHIO.
SECTION B, LOT 46, GRAVE 1
LOCATION OF MEDALS: VETERANS AFFAIRS OUTPATIENT CLINIC (1863 DESIGN), TOLEDO, OHIO.
SOUTHERN MUSEUM OF CIVIL WAR & LOCOMOTIVE HISTORY (1904 DESIGN), KENNESAW, GEORGIA.
