John Morehead Scott

Scott was born in Stark County, Ohio on 1 January 1839 to parents Thomas B. Scott and Elizabeth Moorehead Scott, one of 6 children. He married Rachel M. Davis Waggoner in 1861.[1] Following the Great Locomotive Chase, Scott was hanged along with 7 others in Atlanta, Georgia and was buried in Marietta National Cemetery.[4] He was later reburied in Chattanooga National Cemetery.[2][4]

Scott enlisted in the Army as a sergeant on 6 September 1861 at Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio. He was mustered into Company F of the 21st Ohio Infantry on 19 September 1861. He was one of 7 men executed by the Confederates for espionage. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on August 4, 1866.[2][3]

Scott's Medal of Honor citation reads:[5]

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Sergeant John Morehead Scott, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on April, 1862, while serving with Company G, 21st Ohio Infantry, in action during the Andrew's Raid in Georgia. Sergeant Scott was one of the 19 of 22 men (including two civilians) who, by direction of General Mitchell (or Buell), penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Georgia, and attempted to destroy the bridges and track between Chattanooga and Atlanta.

— E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War