b. 23/03/1831 Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana. d. 24/09/1896 Pemberville, Ohio.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 04/1862 Georgia.
Elihu H Mason MOH
Mason joined the Army from Pemberville, Ohio in April 1861, and by April 1862 was serving as a sergeant in Company K of the 21st Ohio Infantry. During that month, he volunteered for a raid into Confederate territory to disrupt rail transport in Georgia. The mission failed, and all of the raiders were captured. In June, eight of the men, including the raid leader, James J. Andrews, were executed as spies. The remaining raiders, including Mason, made an escape from the Confederate prison on October 16, 1862. Very ill at the time, Mason was unable to keep up with the other soldiers and, at his own urging, was eventually left behind and recaptured by the Confederates. He and five other recaptured raiders were released in a prisoner exchange the next year, on March 18. For his actions during the mission, he was awarded the newly created Medal of Honor one week after being exchanged, on March 25, 1863. It was presented to him by Secretary of War, Edward M. Stanton. He was the fourth person ever to receive the medal.
Mason later became a commissioned officer and reached the rank of captain. He fought in the Battle of Chickamauga where he was again captured by the Confederates. He was paroled in December 1864, and discharged in May 1865. After the war, Mason returned to Pemberville, Ohio.
MOH CITATION:
One of 19 of 24 men (including two civilians) who, by direction of Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchell, penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and track between Chattanooga and Atlanta.
BURIAL LOCATION: PEMBERVILLE CEMETERY, PEMBERVILLE, OHIO.
LOT 193.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
