Union spy's Medal of Honor comes to Kennesaw Museum

KENNESAW - More than 140 years ago, Union Sergeant John Morehead Scott was hanged for his participation in a mission impossible. <br> <br> His assignment: penetrate 200 miles into Confederate territory, steal a Confederate train and destroy bridges and tracks between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta. <br> <br> The mission failed, but Scott was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. That medal has now come South to be the centerpiece of the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, which is scheduled to reopen in the spring after 18 months of renovation. <br> <br> The medal, presented to Scott&#39;s widow on August fourth, 1866, is one of the first bestowed by the federal government as its highest honor for a member of the U-S armed forces for valor in action against an enemy. <br> <br> His descendants have loaned the medal to the museum, which is located just yards from where Scott and 23 other Union spies stole the Confederate locomotive known as the General.