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This Day in History
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This Day in History

On April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia after four years of Civil War in the United States.

Biden will bestow Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territory
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Biden will bestow Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territory

  • By JOSH BOAK Associated Press

A descendant of a Union soldier getting the Medal of Honor from President Joe Biden for conspicuous gallantry during the Civil War says it's an opportunity for his ancestor to be remembered as "a brave soldier who did what he thought was right." Brian Taylor is a great-great-great-nephew of U.S. Army Pvt. Philip G. Shadrach. Biden is awarding the Medal of Honor on Wednesday to Shadrach and Pvt. George D. Wilson, who stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory and drove it north while destroying railroad tracks and telegraph lines. Shadrach was from Pennsylvania and Wilson from Ohio. Wilson's great-great-granddaughter says she gets chills reading his final words about having no ill feelings for the South.

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This day in history

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In 1790, the first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I.