Marion Ross: A Local Hero

See Marion Ross’ Medal of Honor at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum. Photo courtesy of CCHSM.

Marion Ross’s parents were some of the first settlers in Christiansburg. The eldest son of Levi and Mary Ross, Marion attended Antioch College before becoming the first teacher in St. Paris. In 1861 he left to be a part of the Union Army during the Civil War, where he rose to the rank of Seargent Major.

During the war, Marion became a part of a now infamous plan to commandeer a train and take it North, damaging the rail and telegraph poles along the way, in an attempt to disrupt communication for the Confederates. Marion and his brave comrades made it almost to Chatanooga Tennessee before having to abandon the train. They were being pursued by the engineer of the train they stole. The chase is now known as the Great Locomotive Chase. Marion and the other soldiers were eventually caught and tried as spies. Marion and six other soldiers were hanged on June 18th. 1862. 

​The following year, Marion was the first person to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. That medal along with other artifacts are now in the care of the Champaign County Historical Society Museum. This past Memorial Day the village of Christiansburg unveiled a new monument honoring the bravery of this young man. We remember Marions’s final words with gratitude,” Tell them at home if any of you escape, that I died for my country and did not regret it”.