b. 09/10/1832 Addison (now Christianburg), Ohio. d. 18/06/1862 Atlanta, Georgia.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 04/1862 Big Shanty, Georgia.
Marion A Ross MOH
Ross was born on a farm on 9 October 1832 in Addison (modern day Christiansburg, Ohio) to parents Levi and Mary Ross. He was one of seven children. He enrolled in the Antioch Preparatory Academy in 1853, but took 1855-1859 off from school. At the beginning of the war, he was a student at Antioch College.
Ross enlisted in the Army as a private on 17 April 1861 in Christiansburg. He was assigned to Company F of the 2nd Ohio Infantry and was stationed in Camp McClelland in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was mustered out on 31 July 1861, but reenlisted into Company A of the 2nd Ohio Infantry on 20 August 1861. On 7 December 1861, after catching the attention of General Ormsby Mitchel, he was promoted to sergeant major and was assigned to the Secret Service, a group of 24 men led by Captain James J. Andrews, which met in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
The goal of this group was to perform a raid on Confederate communications and transportation by hijacking a Confederate train, in what was later deemed the Great Locomotive Chase. Ross and his compatriots posed as Kentuckians on their way south to join the Confederacy and, while the train operators were out for breakfast, steal the train and drive it back to Union lines. However, due to a large Confederate presence in the area, their plan ultimately failed and Ross was captured. He was executed as a spy on 18 June 1862 in Atlanta, Georgia. His posthumous Medal of Honor was issued in September 1863.
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: CHATTANOOGA NATIONAL CEMETERY, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE.
SECTION H, GRAVE 11179
LOCATION OF MEDAL: CHAMPAIGN COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM (1863 DESIGN), URBANA, OHIO.
