Elihu H. Mason

Elihu H. Mason was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and one of the men whose participation in the Great Locomotive Chase placed him among the earliest recipients of the Medal of Honor. Born on March 23, 1831, in Wayne County, Indiana, Mason later became associated with Pemberville, Ohio, and entered service in the United States Army. By April 1862, he was serving as a Sergeant in Company K of the 21st Ohio Infantry.

Mason’s place in military history was secured through his participation in one of the most daring special operations of the Civil War. In the spring of 1862, civilian scout James J. Andrews developed a plan to send a small party of Union soldiers deep into Confederate territory. Their objective was to seize a locomotive, damage railroad tracks and bridges, cut telegraph lines, and disrupt the Confederate transportation network between Atlanta and Chattanooga.

The mission was especially dangerous because the men had to move through enemy territory in civilian clothing and without the normal protection provided to uniformed soldiers. If captured, they risked being treated as spies rather than ordinary prisoners of war.

Mason volunteered for the operation while serving as a Sergeant in the 21st Ohio Infantry.

The raiders moved south through Confederate territory and eventually reached Georgia. On April 12, 1862, they seized the locomotive General at Big Shanty, now Kennesaw, Georgia, while the train crew and passengers had stopped for breakfast.

Once aboard the locomotive, the raiders headed north.

Their plan was to destroy sections of the Western & Atlantic Railroad as they traveled, cut telegraph wires, remove track, and burn bridges wherever possible. The goal was to isolate Confederate forces around Chattanooga and make it more difficult for them to receive reinforcements and supplies.

The operation quickly developed into a dramatic pursuit.

The stolen locomotive General was chased by Confederate railroad personnel, including conductor William A. Fuller, who used several means of transportation before eventually obtaining another locomotive, Texas, and continuing the pursuit.

The raiders attempted to slow the chase by damaging railroad track, cutting telegraph wires, and creating obstacles.

However, heavy rain made it difficult to burn bridges effectively, and the pursuing Confederates continued to close the distance.

Eventually, the General began to run low on fuel and steam.

Unable to continue, Andrews and his men abandoned the locomotive and scattered through the countryside in an attempt to reach Union lines.

Mason and the other raiders were captured.

Their capture placed them in an extremely dangerous position.

Because the mission had involved entering Confederate territory in civilian clothing and conducting sabotage, Confederate authorities treated the raiders as spies.

Several members of the group, including Andrews himself, were tried and executed.

Mason survived this period of captivity, but his ordeal was far from over.

On October 16, 1862, Mason was among the prisoners who attempted to escape from Confederate confinement in Atlanta.

The escape was another dangerous episode.

The prisoners scattered and attempted to reach Union territory through hostile countryside.

Mason, however, was seriously ill and unable to keep pace with the other escapees.

Recognizing that his condition endangered the group, he urged the others to continue without him.

Mason was subsequently recaptured.

He remained in Confederate custody until he was eventually included in a prisoner exchange on March 18, 1863.

Only a few days later, his service in the Great Locomotive Chase received extraordinary recognition.

On March 25, 1863, Elihu H. Mason was presented with the Medal of Honor in Washington, D.C.

The award was presented by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

Mason was among the first group of soldiers ever to receive the Medal of Honor.

His decoration therefore holds an especially important place not only in his personal story, but also in the history of the Medal of Honor itself.

The correct historical decoration associated with his Civil War service is the Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army.

The Army Medal of Honor had been authorized during the Civil War as the nation’s highest military decoration for extraordinary gallantry and distinguished service.

Its early design featured the familiar five-pointed star associated with the first generation of Army recipients.

Mason’s Medal of Honor recognized his participation in the dangerous mission in which the raiders penetrated nearly two hundred miles into Confederate territory and seized a railroad train in an attempt to destroy bridges and track between Chattanooga and Atlanta.

No verified device or clasp is associated with Mason’s Medal of Honor.

His Medal of Honor action rank was Sergeant.

This is the rank that should be used when describing his role during the Great Locomotive Chase.

He later became a commissioned officer.

For the final database profile, the highest rank supported by the standardized Medal of Honor record is Second Lieutenant.

This distinction is important.

Sergeant represents his rank when he performed the action for which he received the Medal of Honor, while Second Lieutenant reflects his later advancement in the Army.

Mason’s service did not end with the Great Locomotive Chase.

After being exchanged and returning to Union service, he continued his military career.

He later participated in major operations with Union forces and experienced the dangers of captivity a second time.

During the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, Mason was again captured by Confederate forces.

The Battle of Chickamauga was one of the largest battles fought in the Western Theater and resulted in a major Confederate victory.

Union forces suffered heavy losses, and many soldiers were captured.

Mason’s second capture demonstrated how hazardous his continued military service remained even after the extraordinary events of the railroad raid.

He eventually returned from Confederate captivity and continued through the later stages of the war.

His military service ultimately carried him through years of campaigning, imprisonment, escape attempts, recapture, and renewed battlefield duty.

Mason’s career therefore cannot be understood only through the Great Locomotive Chase.

That event was the most famous chapter of his service, but his wider wartime experience demonstrated endurance as well as bravery.

His combat background was rooted in the infantry.

He served in Company K of the 21st Ohio Infantry, and for the client database his appropriate combat classification is Army Ground Combat with Infantry as the Combat Achievement Modifier.

Although the Great Locomotive Chase itself was a highly unusual raid involving railroad sabotage rather than a conventional infantry battle, Mason remained an infantry soldier by branch and unit specialization.

Mason’s medal history must also be interpreted carefully under the current client rules.

His final confirmed decoration is the Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army.

The Civil War Campaign Medal 1861–1865 Army should not be added to his profile.

Mason died on September 24, 1896, before the Army Civil War Campaign Medal was established.

Under the current database workflow, his qualifying Civil War service alone is not sufficient to justify adding that later decoration.

For this reason, his final confirmed medal count remains one.

That single medal, however, carries exceptional historical significance.

Mason was not simply one of many later Medal of Honor recipients.

He belonged to the group whose awards helped establish the earliest tradition of the decoration.

The Great Locomotive Chase was one of the first operations for which the Medal of Honor was presented, making Mason part of the foundation of Medal of Honor history.

His story also reflects the extraordinary risks accepted by Civil War soldiers assigned to unconventional missions.

Unlike ordinary battlefield operations, Andrews’ Raiders operated far behind enemy lines.

They had limited support, no secure communications, and little chance of rescue if the mission failed.

The raid required secrecy, endurance, mechanical skill, improvisation, and personal courage.

Once the General was abandoned, each man had to attempt escape through hostile territory while Confederate forces searched for them.

Mason endured capture, imprisonment, an attempted escape, illness, recapture, and eventual exchange.

These experiences demonstrate remarkable physical and psychological endurance.

His decision during the October 1862 escape to tell the healthier men to continue without him is also an important part of his story.

By doing so, he accepted the likelihood of recapture rather than allowing his condition to reduce the other prisoners’ chances of reaching safety.

That decision reflected the same selflessness and sense of duty that characterized his military service.

After the war, Mason returned to civilian life in Ohio.

He remained associated with Pemberville and later participated in local civic life.

His connection to the Great Locomotive Chase remained a major part of his identity for the rest of his life.

In 1888, surviving members of Andrews’ Raiders gathered with the locomotive General, creating one of the most famous historical images associated with the raid.

Mason was among the surviving veterans whose presence helped preserve public memory of the operation.

Elihu H. Mason died on September 24, 1896, at the age of sixty-five.

He was buried in Pemberville Cemetery in Ohio.

By the time of his death, the Great Locomotive Chase had already become one of the legendary episodes of the Civil War, and Mason’s Medal of Honor ensured that his role in the raid would remain permanently recorded.

For his final hero profile, the central facts are clear.

Elihu H. Mason served in the United States Army.

He was a Sergeant in Company K, 21st Ohio Infantry, when he participated in the Great Locomotive Chase in April 1862.

His later standardized highest rank was Second Lieutenant.

He was captured after the raid, attempted to escape Confederate imprisonment, was recaptured because illness prevented him from continuing with the other escapees, and was ultimately exchanged in March 1863.

On March 25, 1863, he received the Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army and became one of the earliest recipients in the history of the decoration.

No verified device or clasp is associated with his medal.

Elihu H. Mason should ultimately be remembered as a soldier whose military career combined courage, endurance, sacrifice, and extraordinary historical importance.

His participation in the Great Locomotive Chase placed him at the center of one of the Civil War’s boldest raids.

His survival through imprisonment and recapture demonstrated remarkable resilience.

His Medal of Honor preserved his role in that operation and linked his name permanently to the earliest history of America’s highest military decoration.