The Great Locomotive Chase 1862 (Andrews' Raiders)

SO interesting, it wasn't exciting enough! Gee whiz, one of the best, hand's down stories of the war! If a movies on it wasn't exciting must not have built on the suspenseful parts? Just reading it, had to go back on blood pressure meds.

The book from archives, which I could remember the title- about adventures and escapes of the Civil War? Free on Kindle-has it. First encounter with the story and treats it very evenly, North and South although you do find yourself fleeing with the Federals.

Thanks for the link and story James. Tells it extremely well, although without the blood pressure meds. :smile:

John Franklin Blair published a very good account improbably in a poetry format, here- a free ebook-
https://books.google.com/books?id=F...onepage&q=andrews raid civil war book&f=false
 
https://archive.org/stream/famousadventures93cabl#page/n9/mode/2up

book 1893.JPG


Andrews Raid is included in this book from 1893- the one that's been making me crazy looking for the darn thing. Great read anyone!
 
IMHO, The General with Buster Keaton is definitely a cinema classic! Available on youtube:
Enjoy!

@Buckeye Bill, thanks for the wonderful photos!

You are very welcome!

My son and I had a blast touring The Great Locomotive Chase sites in 2014.

We included these sites as we conducted the Atlanta Campaign tour.

Georgia rocks!!!

Bill
 
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This photograph shows seven of the twenty-one men who were members of Andrews' Raiders, a mission to capture and destroy Confederate supply lines during the Civil War. The men are identified as (standing, left to right) William Bensinger, Daniel A. Dorsey, J.A. Wilson; (seated, left to right) William Knight; William Pittenger, Jacob Parrott, John R. Porter.

http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p267401coll36/id/952/rec/6

Men of the 21st & 33 Ohio Regiments

THE MITCHELL RAID
April 12, 1862


THE MITCHELL RAIDERS


MARIAN A. ROSS, Sergt-Major, 2nd Ohio Inf. **

WILLIAM PITTINGER, Sergt-Major, 21st Ohio, Inf.
J. A. WILSON, Private, Co. C, 21st Ohio Inf. **
MARK WOOD, Private, Co. C, 21st Ohio Inf.
W. J. KNIGHT, Private, Co. E, 21st Ohio Inf.
W. W, BROWN, Private, Co. F, 21st Ohio Inf.
JOHN M. SCOTT, Sergt., Co. F, 21st Ohio Inf. **
WILLIAM BENSINGER, Private Co. G, 21st Ohio Inf.
JOHN R. PORTER, Private, Co. G, 21st Ohio Inf.
ROBERT BUFFUM, Private, Co. H, 21st Ohio Inf.

M. J. HAWKINS, Corpl, Co. A, 33rd Ohio Inf.
WILLIAM REDDICK, Corpl, Co. B, 33rd Ohio Inf.
JOHN WOLLAM, Private, Co. C, 33rd Ohio Inf.
SAMUEL SLAVENS, Private, Co. E, 33rd Ohio Inf. **
DANIEL A. DORSEY, Corpl, Co. H, 33rd Ohio Inf.
E. H. MASON, Sergt., Co. K, 33rd Ohio Inf.
JACOB PARROTT, Private, Co. K, 33rd Ohio Inf.


JAMES J. ANDREWS **
WILLIAM CAMPBELL **
W. A. FULLER
ANDREW MURPHY
SAMUEL ROBERTSON **
PERRY SHADRACK **
JAMES SMITH



NOTE: ** Hanged at Atlanta, GA, as spies.

THE MITCHELL RAID

One of the most interesting and thrilling incidents of the
early campaigns of 1862, as an exploit of reckless daring, if
not of successful strategy, was this celebrated railroad raid,
organized with the purpose of destroying the rebel line of
communication with Chattanooga, and placing that important
stronghold at the mercy of General Mitchell's forces.

The raid was led by James J. Andrews of Kentucky, who had
previously acted as a spy for General Buell. The expedition
consisted of twenty men of the Second, Twenty-first, and
Thirty-third Ohio regiments, who volunteered for the service,
and two civilians.

Wearing citizens' clothes, and carrying only side-arms, they
proceeded from General Mitchell's camp at Shelbyville, Tenn.,
to Chattanooga, in detachments of three or four, representing
themselves to be Kentuckians on their way to join the
Confederate Army. From Chattanooga they made their way to
Marietta, GA, which was to be the starting point for the raid.

On the morning of the 12th of April they boarded a train
loaded with rebel troops and ammunition, and rode to Big
Shanty (now Kenesaw Station), having bought tickets to
different stations along the line to disarm suspicion. At Big
Shanty the train stopped, and the conductor, engineer, and
many of the passengers went out to breakfast, leaving the
train unguarded.

The little band immediately took possession, uncoupled a
section of the train, consisting of three empty box-cars, the
locomotive and tender, and started at full speed on their wild
ride through the enemy's country to Chattanooga. The plan
was, by cutting the telegraph wires and tearing up the track,
to destroy all means of communication east and south,
preventing the re-enforcement or the garrison at Chattanooga,
and leaving the way clear for General Mitchell, who, with a
detachment from his division, was at this very moment moving
on the town by rail from Huntsville, Ala., one hundred miles
to the west.

The train was run at a furious rate of speed, stopping
occasionally to enable the men to tear up the rails and cut
the wires. At the stations where he was compelled to stop,
Andrews replied to all inquiries that he was running an
impressed powder train through to General Beauregard. The
only difficulties ahead were the extra trains flying south
from General Mitchell's forces, whose approach had stampeded
the enemy.

The danger was all in the rear, where another engine in charge
of Anthony Murphy, master-mechanic and superintendent of the
road, assisted by the conductor and engineer of the captured
train, was gradually gaining on them in spite of the obstacles
in its way. The pursuers had started on a hand car, which had
run off the track at one of the breaks in the road, had been
obliged to proceed on foot for some distance, and had finally
pressed into service a locomotive and a company of soldiers.

Delayed by the south-bound trains as well as by the necessary
work of destruction, the Union men lost valuable time, while
the Confederates seemed able to surmount all obstacles. The
chase was as desperate as the flight, the issue almost equally
vital to pursuer and pursued.

At Kingston the Federals were only four minutes ahead, and, at
their next halt, the whistle of the enemy's engine was heard
while they were pulling up the rails. The rebels saw the
obstruction in time to avoid a wreck, but had to leave their
engine and start again on foot. The relief to the fugitives,
however, was slight, for, before going far the rebels stopped
and reversed a south-bound train, and continued the chase.

From Calhoun there was a clear track to Chattanooga, but the
pursuers were gaining rapidly. The fugitives dropped a car
which was taken up and pushed ahead by the engine in the rear.
The Federals broke out the end of their last box-car, and
dropped cross-ties on the track, checking slightly the
progress of the rebels, and gaining enough time to get in wood
and water at two stations.

Several times they stopped, and almost succeeded in lifting a
rail, but each time the Confederates, coming within rifle
range, compelled them to give up the attempt. As a final
desperate effort they set fire to their third and last car,
and as they passed over a long, covered bridge at Oostenaula,
uncoupled it and left it in the center of the bridge.

The Confederates were upon the bridge before the fire had
gained much headway, and the pursuing engine, dashing through
the flame and smoke, drove the car before it to the next side-
track. Every effort had failed that ingenuity could devise
and reckless courage execute, and, on the very threshold of
success, it was plain that escape was impossible.

Fuel was now very low, and, though the locomotive was urged to
its greatest speed, swaying and trembling from its tremendous
impulse, it was a question of very few minutes before it would
have to be abandoned. As it began to slow down the signal was
given for a general sauve-qui-peut, but the little band was at
once overpowered.

They were taken to Atlanta, where the leader and seven of his
men were tried by court-martial, condemned, and executed. The
others were kept in prison until the following October, when,
agreeing among themselves that death by a bullet would be
preferable to the scaffold, they planned an escape, a venture
quite as desperate as that upon which they had embarked in the
spring, but, fortunately, more successful.

By a concerted attack upon the guards they managed to escape,
but only eight of them reached home, after a most terrible
experience, thus described by one of the survivors:
"In just forty-eight days and nights, for the nights should be
counted, since under cover of darkness we made most progress,
we reached the Federal lines, footsore and worn to skeletons.
We were forced to wade streams, swim swift-running rivers,
scale mountains, and at the same time be constantly on the
alert against the enemy, who were always around us.

The thought that capture meant certain death alone kept us on
the march. No person can describe our sufferings -- God only
knows what we were forced to endure.

"To gain rest in sleep was impossible. To close our eyes in
unconsciousness was only to dream of pursuit by bloodhounds,
of the huge scaffold on the outskirts of Atlanta, where our
friends had been hanged, and where, it was said, we should
share the same fate; or of a sudden attack in which a bullet
would have been more merciful than man."

Source: Deeds of Valor, p. 17
 
They really were beautiful trains. One thing I have often wondered about American trains of the era; why did they have such large funnels? Most trains around the world had a simple straight smoke stack.
 
I saw the Disney production of the story. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it sure was a great movie for a kid to see.
I saw this movie shortly after I got interested in the Civil War. Early in the movie, Andrews (Fess Parker), posing as a Confederate soldier, brags to some of the locals about the great success of the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh. Since this would have occurred between April 7th to 12th, I wondered if the Confederates generally claimed a victory whether they won or not, or was this just some poetic license by the screen writers ...
 
They really were beautiful trains. One thing I have often wondered about American trains of the era; why did they have such large funnels? Most trains around the world had a simple straight smoke stack.

Since these were primarily wood burners, they had spark arrestors in the funnel to keep from starting fires with embers blowing out with steam exhaust.

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The man in my avatar is my 4x great uncle George Washington Wimpee. He was a private in the 1st Georgia Cavalry. He and 3 of his brothers are mentioned in a book about the history of Rome, Ga as being the first cavalry troopers to give chase after The General was stolen. This, for obvious reasons, is one of my favorite stories from the war if there can be such a thing.
 
National Medal of Honor Day on March 25 is dedicated to all Medal of Honor recipients.

It was on March 25, 1863, when the first Medals of Honor were presented. Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton presented Medals of Honor (Army) to six members of “Andrews Raiders” for their volunteering and participation during an American Civil War raid in April of 1862.
 
Since these were primarily wood burners, they had spark arrestors in the funnel to keep from starting fires with embers blowing out with steam exhaust.

FromTheSentinel20103rdQrtr-1.jpg

Yep. Here's a modern video of a wood-burning locomotive. At about the 2:00 mark, you can see the embers and fly ash from the chimney blowing past the passenger car windows. In the 19th century, passengers sometimes complained about live cinders blowing back into the cars and burning holes in their clothes.

 
Since these were primarily wood burners, they had spark arrestors in the funnel to keep from starting fires with embers blowing out with steam exhaust.

FromTheSentinel20103rdQrtr-1.jpg
Putting my railwayman's cap on I can assure you coal burners are every bit as capable of starting fires, especially when driven hard gradients. Some heritage railways here have to operate diesels at certain times of the year ,depending on how dry the weather has been.
 
If contemporary illustrations are correct, new locomotives were painted in the brightest colors available, and often with lots of brasswork. I'm sure they'd get worn and dingy through hard use and deferred maintenance, but they started out spectacular.

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Swinburne Loco. Works, Rochester Div, Bath, NY 1863. William Halsey locomotive drawing collection, SMU Libraries.

That was one of the things that chafed me about the series Hell on Wheels -- they made the locomotive on the set this horrid, flat-black thing that in no way resembled the actual locomotives used on building the Transcontinental Railroad.
Andy, in peace time, loco crews were known to spend their own money and time embellishing their machines. Most railroads seemed to have encouraged the practice for publicity reasons.
 
Yep. Here's a modern video of a wood-burning locomotive. At about the 2:00 mark, you can see the embers and fly ash from the chimney blowing past the passenger car windows. In the 19th century, passengers sometimes complained about live cinders blowing back into the cars and burning holes in their clothes.

YIKES! I noticed that a piece of ash or soot attached itself to the camera lens (or the protective filter). Now, granted, this is sort of like the "Little Engine That Could": It's not pulling a long, heavy train. But she sure is climbing some impressive grades. I love this. I have shared a link with two of my railroad friends. (One of them has driven both the Challenger and the 844 Union Pacific steamers, but I doubt he's ever had his hands on the controls of a wood burner.) Thanks, Andy!
 
You can see from that video why the Central Pacific, working its way east from Sacramento, had so much harder going than the Union Pacific, working west across the plains from Omaha. (Althugh this particular video was shot in the Rockies, not the Sierra Nevada.)

This looks like a photo of someone's basement model railroad:

Loco.png
 
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