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William Bensinger Medals of Honor

Om181_975243_006

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Title	William Bensinger Medals of Honor
Subject	Military Ohio Civil War Medals Andrews' Raiders
Place	McComb (Ohio) Hancock County (Ohio)
Description	These Medals of Honor, the highest military honor given in the United States, were awarded to William Bensinger, a native of McComb, Ohio, for his role as one of Andrews' Raiders, a group of men who ventured deep inside Confederate territory during the Civil War. The raiders were caught, and William Bensinger was an exchange prisoner. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton presented the original medal, shown on the left, to Bensinger and five others in 1863. The Medal of Honor was redesigned in 1904, and Bensinger was presented with the newer version in 1916, two years before his death. The first image is of the 1863 medal; the second shows the 1916 medal of honor. Each medal is approximately 1.5" x 2.5" (3.81 x 8.89 cm). In 1862, a group of Ohioans volunteered to be part of a secret mission deep into Confederate territory to disrupt transportation and communication lines. The group, later known as Andrews' Raiders, purchased tickets and boarded a train just north of Marietta, Georgia on the morning of April 12, 1862. When the train stopped at the town of Big Shanty for breakfast, the soldiers separated the engine, called The General, the coal tender, and three boxcars from the rest of the train. With the Confederate crew in pursuit, Andrews' Raiders headed toward Chattanooga, tearing up track and cutting telegraph lines. The Confederates picked up a new engine, The Texas, at the next railroad station and continued to pursue the Raiders. Although they released two of the boxcars and tried to set fire to a bridge, it soon became clear that the Raiders would never make it to Chattanooga. They abandoned The General about half way to Chattanooga. Andrews' Raiders fled on foot, but all 21 were captured within a week. Eight of them were hanged and the rest were sent to Confederate prison camps.
Date of Original	1863; 1916
Collection	Marion A. Ross Collection
Source	Historical object(s) or artifact(s)
Submitting Institution	McComb Public Library
Rights	For rights and reproduction requests, go to the Ohio Historical Society's Audiovisual and Graphic Reproduction Services page at http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/audiovis/photodup.html
Type	StillImage
Format	picture; objects

Title	Om181_975243_006
Rights	For rights and reproduction requests, go to the Ohio Historical Society's Audiovisual and Graphic Reproduction Services page at http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/audiovis/photodup.html; Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests or more information, go to http://www.ohiohistory.org/images/information
File Name	Om181_975243_006.tif
Image Height	1710
Image Width	547
File Size	266.779 KB

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William Bensinger Medals of Honor

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