Two sides reach temporary agreement over Civil War artifacts

Private Wilson W. Brown received the Medal of Honor for action in April, 1862, while serving with Company G, 21st Ohio Infantry, during the Andrew's Raid in Georgia. PROVIDED TO THE BLADE Enlarge | Photo Reprints

BOWLING GREEN — Two Civil War medals and a key used to unlock a Confederate prison cell will be taken to Kennesaw, Ga. in April for the 150th anniversary of Andrews’ Raid, but possession of the artifacts remains in question.

At a hearing in Wood County Common Pleas Court Wednesday, Linda Schwartz of Perrysburg agreed to have the artifacts encased in glass and then taken to the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History for events related to the anniversary of the daring raid of April 12, 1862.

The medals and key belonged to Sgt. Wilson W. Brown, a Union soldier from northwest Ohio who took part in the raid, also known as the Great Locomotive Chase, and helped commandeer the locomotive, the General.

In January, Albert C. Ward of Timberlake, Ohio sued his cousin, Mrs. Schwartz, who he said has had the artifacts since her father, the late Robert W. Scott, died in 2005. Mr. Ward said he was seeking possession of the artifacts on behalf of the descendants of Mr. Brown, the majority of whom want to see the medals and key preserved and displayed in an appropriate museum.

Mr. Ward claimed in his suit that as a fourth-generation descendant of Mr. Brown, Mrs. Schwartz has an inferior right of possession to the artifacts. He also alleged she had refused to share them with the family for “family reunions, historical convocations, and other events honoring the memory and valor of Wilson W. Brown.”

A locomotive engineer and member of the 21st Ohio Infantry Regiment, Mr. Brown was among the first U.S. soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his part in the raid and received a second one after the medal was redesigned in 1904. He died in East Toledo in 1916 and was buried in Wood County.

According to the agreement outlined in court, the two sides will meet with a mediator April 25. If mediation is unsuccessful, Judge Alan Mayberry said the case will come before him May 10 for an initial pretrial hearing.

In the meantime, the artifacts are to be under the control of Mrs. Schwartz’s attorney, Brian Ballenger, who told the court they would be held in a safe deposit box.