b. 01/05/1843 Muskingum County, Ohio. d. 18/06/1862 Atlanta, Georgia.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 04/1862 Big Shanty, Georgia.
Samuel Robertson MOH
Samuel Robertson was born in 1843 in Muskingum County, Ohio. He volunteered and initially joined Company G, 33rd Ohio Infantry.
Private Samuel Robertson was killed on June 18, 1862 near Atlanta after a Union raid into Georgia to capture a railroad train and destroy the rail line and bridges connecting the cities of Atlanta, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Civilian scout James Andrews and his volunteers penetrated nearly 200 miles behind the Confederate lines, commandeered a locomotive named “The General”, and did vital damage to the Western and Atlantic Railroad before being caught. Pursued by Confederate forces northward, the Raiders cut the telegraph lines to prevent word getting passed to any blocking forces. Samuel Robertson was among the eight executed by hanging as spies after capture. As one of ‘Andrews Raiders’, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor 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, SITE 11177.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
