The Great Locomotive Chase

Georgia is full of Civil War history. It seems every time I take a look at some location in Georgia there is some interesting Civil War story associated with that place. The Great Locomotive Chase or Andrews' Raid took place on April 12, 1862. Union Army volunteers were led by civilian scout James J. Andrews. The plan developed by Andrews was to sneak south to Marietta, Georgia and commandeer a train, head north toward Chattanooga doing as much damage as possible to the Western and Atlantic Railway. The hope was to cut off Confederate supplies to Chattanooga so it could be encircled, bombarded and captured by Union Army forces. Andrews recruited 23 volunteers and dressed in civilian clothing they headed south in small parties to avoid suspicion. They were instructed to arrive in Marietta by April 10th. Heavy rain in the area caused a one day delay and all but two of the men arrived.

As a bit of history here at the time railway dining cars were not in common use. Trains had to stop on a regular basis for water and fuel so passenger meals were combined with those stops. The raid began on April 12th when the regular northbound passenger train pulled by the locomotive The General made its regular stop at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) Georgia on the Atlanta to Chattanooga run. While the passengers and crew ate breakfast at the Lacy Hotel, Andrews and his raiders hijacked The General and the train's first car. They planned to take the train north destroying track, bridges and telegraph wires along the way. The train was taken at Big Shanty station because it had no telegraph office. William Allen Fuller the train's conductor and two other men chased the train on foot and later by handcar. It might seem silly to do so now but trains at the time averaged 15 miles per hour with brief bursts to 20 mph. The terrain north of Atlanta is hilly and the grades steep which reduced speed. The raiders also stopped to perform acts of sabotage which slowed their progress north. In the race north Fuller spotted the locomotive Yonah at Etowah and took it chasing the raiders north to Kingston. There Fuller took the locomotive Willian R. Smith and continued north to Adairsville. About two miles south of Adairsville the raiders had destroyed the tracks so Fuller resumed the chase on foot. Beyond the damaged section he commandeered the southbound locomotive Texas and running it backwards, tender first, he resumed the chase. The raiders were never able to get very far ahead of Fuller because they were poorly equipped to damage the tracks and the railroad was well constructed. They were only able, for all their efforts to do temporary and superficial damage. In addition they had stolen a regularly scheduled train on its route. They needed to keep its timetable. If they reached a siding ahead of schedule they had to wait for the southbound train to pass before they could continue north. The other problem confronting his movement north was the special movement of trains by the Confederate Army south. They had priority and Andrews had to wait for them to pass. The chase ended at Ringgold, Georgia about 18 miles south of Chattanooga when The General ran out of fuel. Andrews and his men abandoned the train and scattered. Andrews and all of his men were captured within two weeks.

Confederate forces charged the raiders with "acts of unlawful belligerency" and the civilians were charged as unlawful combatants and spies. All were tried in military courts. Andrews was found guilty and hanged in Atlanta on June 7th. On June 18th seven others who had been found guilty were also hanged in Atlanta. The remaining attempted escape and 8 were successful and managed to return to Union Army lines. The remaining 6 were held as prisoners of war and exchanged for Confederate prisoners on March 17, 1863. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton awarded some of the raiders the Medal of Honor with the first going to Private Jacob Wilson Parrott.

There is a monument in the Chattanooga National Cemetery dedicated to Andrews' Raiders. The top of it is a scale model of The General locomotive. The General is now located in the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia and the Texas is on display at the Atlanta Cyclorama. As a final note the Walt Disney film The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) staring Fess Parker as Andrews is also based on this story.

One wonders what might have happened had it not been for the determined chase put on by Fuller. Would the Raiders have had enough time to do significant damage to the tracks, bridges and tunnels on their way north? It just shows you that the determined efforts of one individual can change the plans and efforts of many.