b. 18/09/1840 Locust Grove, Ohio. d. 08/11/1903 Muscatine, Iowa.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 04/1862 Big Shanty, Georgia.
William H H Reddick MOH
William H. Reddick enlisted with the 33rd Ohio Infantry on August 18, 1861. In the spring of 1862, he volunteered to join a group selected from three Ohio regiments by James J. Andrews. Their mission was to steal a train in Georgia and destroy railway facilities. The operation ultimately was unsuccessful, and Reddick was imprisoned in Atlanta, along with thirteen of the other raiders (Andrews and seven others were executed.) He attempted to escape in October 1862, but was recaptured and sent to Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Virginia, in December, 1862. After a prisoner exchange in March, 1863, he traveled to Washington, D.C., where he and five of his fellow raiders received the Medal of Honor. They were the first recipients of the medal.
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: LETTSVILLE CEMETERY, LETTS, IOWA.
1ST ADDITION, PLOT 36.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED TO BE FAMILY.
