Their escape from an Atlanta prison was bold like their mission to steal a Confederate train in the Deep South, take it north and burn the bridges on the way back.

Unlike the other Andrews Raiders who fled north, Pvt. Mark Wood, 21, and Pvt. John (Alf) Wilson, 28, headed south deeper into the Confederacy. The two Wood County men travelled only at night. They stole a rowboat on the Chattahootchee River, careful to avoid Rebels and gators as they rowed towards the Gulf of Mexico. Wilson later wrote in his memoir, A Thrilling Episode of the Dark Days of The Rebellion, that the gators were the largest things he had ever seen besides Maumee River carp. The plan was to flag down a Union blockade ship and make it back to their unit, The 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

The improbable escape was successful and both men were among the first soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military decoration established in 1861.

This Ohio Historical marker at New Belleville Ridge Cemetery honors Wilson Brown, one of Andrews Raiders and one of the first recipients of our nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.   The Pemberville Freedom Historical Society is requesting donations to erect a similiar marker at the town's Veteran's Memorial to honor fellow raider and Medal of Honor recipient, Elihu Mason.  To learn more, see the information at the bottom of the article. (Press photo)

Wood rejoined his regiment, was wounded twice and eventually returned to Tontogony. He died in Toledo and is buried in Forest Cemetery.  Wilson was imprisoned in Washington D.C. after his escape because he could not produce identification. While there, he wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln explaining his role with Andrews Raiders. The letter was effective, Wilson was released and met with the President. He is buried in Union Cemetery, near Bowling Green.

Local historian Fred Folger will retell this story of Andrews Raiders Saturday, May 1 at 2:00 p.m. at the Grand Rapids Town Hall.

Folger says Northwest Ohioans played a big role in the famous raid which took place in April of 1862, and which became the subject of a 1956 movie entitled The Great Locomotive Chase starring Fess Parker.

Five Wood County men were among the more than 20 volunteers from three Ohio regiments who conspired to steal a train in southern Georgia and take it north to Chattanooga, burning bridges and tearing up track to cut a supply line.

The raid failed miserably, Folger says. The Rebel conductor chased the train, first by foot, then by handcar and finally by taking command of another train. The dogged pursuit didn’t give the raiders enough time to destroy any track nor any bridge. The train ran out of fuel a few miles south of Chattanooga. All 22 men were captured. Eight, including the lone civilian and architect of the raid, James Andrews, were hanged as spies. While the mission failed, it occurred at a time the Union war effort was going badly and it raised morale in The North after newspapers published the story.

There was another benefit, Folger says. “There were all kinds of daring things going on by these men during the war. The raid made the south ever more alert to guard their railroads more carefully. They (the raiders) didn’t accomplish what they hoped to, but it showed the southerners they could be infiltrated.”

Two other local men, Sgt. Elihu Mason, 31, of Pemberville, and Cpl. Wilson Brown, 22, who lived in East Toledo after the war, also participated. They too escaped the Atlanta jail along with a third man, William Knight, and headed north. Mason was weak with a stomach problem, probably dysentery, and the other two half-carried him for miles. They left him at a farmhouse in Northern Georgia, according to a report written by Brown in 1896 for the Pemberville Leader. As they were leaving, they were braced by two Rebel soldiers who asked them, “Are you some of them engine thieves?”

Facing the armed Rebels who said they were taking them back to Atlanta, Brown desperately sought a ruse to avoid the hangman’s noose. He wrote, “`All right,’” said I, `But, what are you going to do with that company of Yanks coming there.’  And, I pointed to the rear of them.”

The Rebels were thrown off guard. Brown wrote he and Knight “sprang upon them like tigers and disarmed them and held them at bay.  We could have killed them but it was not our policy to do so.”

Brown made the two promise not to hurt Mason and they left. The Rebels took Mason into custody. He was eventually released in a prisoner exchange and escorted to Washington D.C. where he was awarded the Medal of Honor, a Lieutenant’s commission and $100, according to Robert Kipp, Mason’s great-grandson, who provided a biography of Mason to the Pemberville Freedom Area Historical Society.

Captured for a third time
According to Kipp, Mason fought in another famous Civil War Battle at Chickamauga in September of 1863. There, a Union Army, under the direction of Major General George Thomas, precariously held the high ground at Horseshoe Ridge besieged by greater numbers. Thomas held off charge after charge and the press dubbed him “The Rock of Chickamauga” for his stalwart defense. Lt. Mason was back with his Ohio regiment and attached to a division under the command of Major General James Negley, who brought a new weapon to Thomas’ aid—the Colt revolving rifle.

The standard rifle at the time could fire only one shot before reloading; the Colt could fire five. Mason’s regiment fired 43,000 rounds, creating the impression the Yanks had more men then they did. The new weapon provided enough cover for the Union Army to retreat, however, Mason’s regiment was surrounded and he was taken prisoner for a third time.

Nearly 35,000 men died in what was, at the time, the bloodiest two days of the war.

Fifteen months later, Mason was released. Kipp writes a Union doctor reported his great-grandfather had bronchitis, typhoid fever, scurvy, a gunshot wound to the left hip and a bruised left side probably due to a shell explosion.

When the war ended, Capt. Mason and his family lived in a number of cities before moving back in 1880 to Pemberville, his wife’s hometown. He raised cattle, worked as a lumberman and was on village council.

Elihu Mason died in 1896 and is buried at Pemberville Cemetery. He is not forgotten. The Pemberville Freedom Area Historical Society is requesting donations to erect a bronze marker from the Ohio Historical Society to commemorate his actions as a recipient of the Medal of Honor. The marker is to be located at the American Legion site, near the Veterans’ Memorial, according to Laurie Householder, spokesperson for the historical society. A similar marker commemorating Wilson Brown is located near his grave at New Belleville Ridge Cemetery in Dowling, adjacent to Tanglewood Golf Course.    

Donations can be sent to Pemberville Freedom Historical Society, P.O. Box 802, Pemberville, OH 43450 or by calling Householder at 419-686-8125.

Fred Folger’s talk on Andrews Raiders will be held on Saturday, May 1, 2:00 p.m. at the Grand Rapids Town Hall.

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