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Great Locomotive Chase

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Background

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Tennessee–Georgia, 1862

During the American Civil War, Chattanooga was a center of battle. Chattanooga served as a hub connecting fifty percent the Confederacy's arsenals, those being located in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, and Macon. Chattanooga railroads proved vital in the Confederacy's transportation of raw material to processing plants where they were responsible for producing small arms munitions.[1]


Their mission was to hold the city at all costs but Mitchel was tempted to sever the rail lines between Memphis, Tennessee and Virginia by capturing the cities of Huntsville, Alabama on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and Chattanooga, Tennessee where the Memphis and Charleston, Nashville and Chattanooga, Western and Atlantic and East Tennessee and Georgia Railroads met. However, a problem that he would face were the Confederate troops garrisoned in Atlanta. With the Western and Atlantic Railroad, they could rapidly move to defend Chattanooga and push the U.S. Army back towards Nashville. This threat could be mitigated by destroying principal bridges on the Western and Atlantic and forcing the Confederates to make a march over several days, buying Mitchel precious time to fortify his defenses.

Brigadier General Ormsby Mitchel


Major General Ormsby M. Mitchel, commanding Federal troops in middle Tennessee, sought a way to contract or shrink the extent of the northern and western borders of the Confederacy by pushing them permanently away from and out of contact with the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. This could be done by first a southward and then an eastward penetration from the Union base at Nashville, which would seize and sever the Memphis & Charleston Railroad between Memphis and Chattanooga (at the time there were no other railway links between the Mississippi river and the east) and then capture the water and railway junction of Chattanooga, Tennessee, thereby severing the Western Confederacy's contact with both the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys.

At the time, the standard means of capturing a city was by encirclement to cut it off from supplies and reinforcements, then would follow artillery bombardment and direct assault by massed infantry. However, Chattanooga's natural water and mountain barriers to its east and south made this nearly impossible with the forces that Mitchel had available. When the Union Army threatened Chattanooga, the Confederate States Army would (from its naturally protected rear) first reinforce Chattanooga's garrison from Atlanta. When sufficient forces had been deployed to Chattanooga to stabilize the situation and hold the line, the Confederates would then launch a counterattack from Chattanooga with the advantage of a local superiority of men and materiel. It was this process that the Andrews raid sought to disrupt. If he could somehow block railroad reinforcement of the city from Atlanta to the southeast, Mitchel could take Chattanooga. The Union Army would then have rail reinforcement and supply lines to its rear, leading west to the Union-held stronghold and supply depot of Nashville, Tennessee.

Planning the Second Raid, 6-7 April

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James Andrews returned to federal lines, now near Shelbyville, on April 6.

Prelude, 7-11 April

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Mitchell takes Huntsville

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On the morning of April 11, 1862, Union troops led by General Ormsby M. Mitchel seized Huntsville in order to sever the Confederacy's rail communications and gain access to the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. Huntsville was the control point for the Western Division of the Memphis & Charleston,[2] and by controlling this railroad the Union had struck a major blow to the Confederacy.

The Chase, 12 April

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Marietta to Big Shanty

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A ticket from the Western & Atlantic Railroad from March 1862. The Andrews Raiders would have purchased tickets similar to this one travelling to and from Marietta.

Big Shanty to Kingston

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Kingston to Calhoun

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Calhoun to Ringgold

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Aftermath

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Military Situation, April-August

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Main articles: Confederate Heartland Offensive and First Battle of Chattanooga
Map of Western Theater of the American Civil War following the Andrews Raid.

Following the raid, General Mitchell continued to occupy Huntsville until early June. Then General Buell was sent east from Corinth, following the end of the siege to link up with Mitchell. eastward through northern Alabama along the Memphis & Charleston Railroad

Buell moved his column—three divisions totaling 35,000 men— east to Huntsville, poised to join up with Mitchel’s 10,000-man division near Bridgeport, along with Morgan’s 9,000 at Cumberland Gap. The Army of the Ohio was on the move and would soon be united.

As a result, the initial march to Huntsville was followed by a month of idleness and fretting as Buell wrestled with difficulties

In early August, Twelve days later, with Buell still immobile, a substantial Confederate column under the command of General Braxton Bragg was reported crossing the river in force at Chattanooga. In what would come to be recognized as the largest Confederate railroad movement of the war, Bragg had moved his 30,000-man force via a 776-mile circuitous route from central Mississippi through Mobile and Atlanta before appearing in Chattanooga. Buell’s predictable reaction to the news of this threat was initially to pull back northwest up the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad to Decherd, Tennessee, and four days later to order an all-out withdrawal. His entire army, Mitchel’s men included, retreated back to Nashville, firing the newly rebuilt railroad bridges in their wake. By mid-September he was all the way up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, 150 crowflight miles from Chattanooga and 250 from Atlanta. Thanks to a forward push by the harsh, irascible Bragg—whose Rebel force was about half the size of Buell’s reinforced army—and to an appalling lack of nerve by Buell himself, the Confederates had driven the Union army from its hard-won positions in North Alabama and East Tennessee without firing a shot.15

On 29 May, Mitchel dispatched Brigadier General James S. Negley to seize Chattanooga. Negley advanced to the outskirts of the city and conducted a two-day artillery bombardment.[3]

On 29 May, Mitchel sent a small expeditionary force under Brig. Gen. James S. Negley to capture Chattanooga. When Negley reached his objective on 7 June, he conducted a reconnaissance and discovered that the Confederate defenses were too strong to carry by direct assault, so he brought up

While Mitchell's forces skirmished near Chattanooga, Braxton Bragg spent most of June redeploying his 30,000-man army from Tupelo, Mississippi to Chattanooga.[4]

When Bragg pushed north from Chattanooga to Kentucky in mid-August, Buell abandoned Alabama and central Tennessee, [5]

Bowery Jr, Charles R. (2014). The Civil War in the Western Theater 1862 (PDF). Center of Military History.

Prokopowicz, Gerald J. (2014). "Last Chance for a Short War: The Chattanooga Campaign of 1862". In Jones, Evan C. (ed.). Gateway to the Confederacy: New Perspectives on the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns, 1862–1863. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0807155097. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gateway_to_the_Confederacy/DQM6AwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

Capture, 12-21 April

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Trials and Executions, April-June

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Escape and Exchange, June 1862-March 1863

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Location

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Outside of Metropolitan Atlanta

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Palm dogg/Great Locomotive Chase is located in Tennessee
W&A Depot, Dalton
W&A Depot, Dalton
General recaptured
General recaptured
Big Shanty
Big Shanty
Chattanooga National Cemetery
Chattanooga National Cemetery
Shelbyville
Shelbyville
Atlanta
Atlanta
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Great Locomotive Chase sites and markers outside of metropolitan Atlanta.

The Ohio monument dedicated to the Andrews Raiders is located at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. There is a scale model of the General on top of the monument, and a brief history of the Great Locomotive Chase.

One marker indicates where the chase began, near the Big Shanty Museum (now known as Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History) in Kennesaw, while another shows where the chase ended at Milepost 116.3, north of Ringgold — not far from the recently restored depot at Milepost 114.5.

In Metropolitan Atlanta

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Palm dogg/Great Locomotive Chase is located in Metro Atlanta
The General at the Southern Museum
The General at the Southern Museum
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Great Locomotive Chase sites and markers in metropolitan Atlanta (outside of downtown).

The General is now in the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, Kennesaw, Georgia, while the Texas is on display at the Atlanta History Center.

One marker indicates where the chase began, near the Big Shanty Museum (now known as Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History) in Kennesaw, while another shows where the chase ended at Milepost 116.3, north of Ringgold — not far from the recently restored depot at Milepost 114.5.

Historic sites along the 1862 chase route include the following:

Kennesaw House, 21 Depot St. (c.1845), a hotel on the L&N railway in Marietta, Georgia, is a contributing building in the Northwest Marietta Historic District. In 1862 this was the Fletcher House hotel where the Andrews Raiders stayed the night before commandeering The General.[8]

In Atlanta

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Palm dogg/Great Locomotive Chase is located in Atlanta
The Texas at the Atlanta History Center
The Texas at the Atlanta History Center
Andrews Execution Site
Andrews Execution Site
Andrews Raiders Hanging
Andrews Raiders Hanging
Oakland Cemetery
Oakland Cemetery
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Great Locomotive Chase sites and markers in Atlanta

In the city of Atlanta, the main Great Locomotive Chase site is The Texas locomotive, located at the Atlanta History Center. In addition, there are historical markers for the sites where James Andrews was hanged on June 7, 1862, near present-day 3rd and Juniper streets, and the mass-hanging on June 18 of seven other Andrews raiders.[9] Pursuers William Fuller and Anthony Murphy are both buried at the Oakland Cemetery[10] The executed raiders were also interred there until being moved to the National Cemetary at Chattanooga, and there is a historical marker at Oakland describing the Great Locomotive Chase.

Bibliography

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Example [11]

Andrews Raiders

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The Andrews Raiders
ActiveMarch 1862 - March 1863
DisbandedApril 1862
Country United States
Branch United States Army
TypeClandestine operation
RoleInfantry
Size24
Part ofArmy of the Ohio, 3rd Division
PatronDon Carlos Buell, Ormsby M. Mitchel
EngagementsGreat Locomotive Chase
Commanders
Notable
commanders		James J. Andrews


To destroy the railroad, Mitchel assigned one James J. Andrews of Flemingsburg, Kentucky to lead a party behind the Confederate lines at Chattanooga. On the first attempt, Andrews and his men were to meet up with an accomplice who worked for the Western and Atlantic Railroad as an engineman, who would assist them in capturing a train and proceeding north along the line, destroying the railroad. Unfortunately, arriving in Atlanta it was discovered that his accomplice had been sent out with a train and would be of no use to him for some time. Undaunted, Andrews and Mitchel reorganized and planned a second raid which would take place on April 11, 1862 and would coincide with Mitchel's army capturing Huntsville. To avoid any possible problems, the team would be all volunteer and include members who had worked as railroad enginemen in their civilian lives. The others would top fighting men, recommended by their officers for their strength and skill-very important due to the fact that the party would be very small, numbering only 21 men plus Andrews. The men who volunteered for the mission did not learn of it's objectives until they personally met with Andrews outside Shelbyville, Tennessee in the first week of April. Due to the fact that they were being asked to undertake such a dangerous mission, penetrating over 100 miles behind the front lines in civilian dress and minimal weaponry, each man was given a chance to back out after the briefing. All accepted the mission and were instructed to make their way to Chattanooga and be on the morning train to Atlanta on April 10th. Upon receiving their civilian clothes and Confederate money, they departed in small groups to avoid raising the suspicions of the Confederate pickets.

As ordered, all arrived in Chattanooga at the assigned time. Andrews informed the men that he encountered that he was going to delay the raid by one day owing to wet weather that he expected would delay Mitchel enroute to Huntsville, Alabama. The men were to pass on the word that the raid would be moved to April 12. Each man made his way to Marietta, Georgia and lodged in the railroad hotel there. Early on the morning of April 12, they boarded the morning express-each man buying a ticket to a different station so as to avoid raising suspicion. Andrews had informed the men that they would take the train when it arrived at the normal breakfast stop at Big Shanty, now Kennesaw, Georgia, Andrews selected this location due to the fact that the crew took breakfast here, leaving the locomotive completely unattended. Of equal importance was the lack of a telegraph station there, the nearest one being Marietta. Upon arriving at Big Shanty, the men waited for the passengers and crew to get off and go into the Lacy Hotel for breakfast. Seizing their chance, they uncoupled the locomotive, a passenger locomotive named "General" and three boxcars from the remainder of the train and started off.

Sitting down to breakfast, Conductor William Allen Fuller, Foreman of Engines Anthony Murphy and Engineer Jeff Cain were startled to hear the sound of the locomotive starting. Looking out the dining room window, the three saw the locomotive pulling away and ran out of the Lacy Hotel. Finding the passenger cars standing on the platform, they gave chase assuming the engine thiefs to be Confederate Army conscripts effecting an escape from Camp McDonald which was located opposite the Lacy Hotel. Fuller, Cain and Murphy ran approximately three miles before meeting up with a section gang near Moon's Station. There they learned that the train had stopped and several tools procured by the unknown enginemen. Explaining the situation, the pursuers took the section gang's pole car and continued their chase. A couple of miles further up the line, the car was derailed by a missing section of rail that had been removed by Andrews and his men. Noting that the adjacent telegraph line had been cut, Fuller immediately realized that the men he was chasing must be federal spies intent on damaging the railroad. Undaunted, they rerailed the car and continued on to the next station at Etowah, Georgia, hoping to catch the locomotive assigned to Cooper's Iron Works before it departed on its daily trip to the furnaces. The locomotive assigned to the iron works was an older American class locomotive named Yonah. Arriving at Etowah, Fuller and party found the Yonah standing with steam up on the branch line. Fuller asked the telegraph operator if it was possible to send a message on to either Kingston, Tennessee or Chattanooga but learned that the line was dead in both directions, the spies having stopped again to cut the telegraph wires north of Etowah. Explaining the situation to the Yonah's crew, they were able to commandeer the locomotive and made for Kingston, hoping that the extra southbound trains would delay Andrews at that point and allow them to catch him. Andrews and his party arrived at Kingston expecting to wait for the single southbound freight shown on the timetable. However, they found that they were to hold for an extra southbound train that was being run ahead of the scheduled freight. The extra train arrived carrying signals for a second section which arrived some time ahead of the last section. By the time that Andrews got away from Kingston, well over two hours had passed. Andrews and his crew stopped a few minutes outside of Kingston to cut the telpgraph wires yet again and remove another rail to prevent any trains from the south from following them. At that same moment, the Yonah arrived at the south end of Kingston where they ran into the log jam of trains. Fuller ran to the station agent's office and learned that Andrews had left just five minutes earlier. Fuller dictated a message for the agent to send to Chattanooga and set about commandeering the Rome Railroad's train to continue the chase as the Yonah was blocked by the freight trains. Just as the telegrapher prepared to send Fuller's message, the line to Chattanooga went dead as Andrew's men cut the line. Unwilling to delay any longer, Andrews hoped to make Adairsville ahead of the southbound freight which he did. Meanwhile, a couple of miles north of Kingston, the [Rome Railroad's locomotive was forced to a stop when the crew saw that the raiders had dislodged a rail. Once again on foot, Fuller and Murphy heard the approach of the southbound freight, pulled by the locomotive "Texas" and ran to flag it down. Learning from Engineer Peter Bracken that he had passed the General at Adairsville, having been talked into taking the siding by the slick talking Andrews. Once Fuller explained the situation, the "Texas" proceeded to back it's train to Adairsville where it was sidetracked and picked up on the chase of the "General". As both locomotives were of the same design, Fuller and Murphy now had a real shot of catching up to Andrews and just above Dalton, they caught first sight of the "General" as Andrews had stopped to cut wires and remove another rail. Hearing the approach of the "Texas", Andrews ordered his men back aboard the train and took off. Passing Calhoun, the "Texas" had met the southbound morning express which was on the siding. Again the fast talking Andrews had talked the crew into taking the siding after nearly colliding with their train. Fuller also found the assistant telegrapher from Dalton, Georgia there as he had been sent south on the morning express to locate the break in the telegraph line. Fuller shouted for him to get on the locomotive, which he did as it backed by him and learned that spies had cut the line in multiple places. Fuller dictated a message to him to send at Dalton, hoping they would reach that station before Andrews managed to cut the lines again. As it turned out, the assistant operator just managed to get the message through before the wires went silent.

List of monuments of the Great Locomotive Chase

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Andrews Raiders Monument at Chattanooga National Cemetery in 1902
Andrews Raiders Monument in 2015
Historical marker at the site in downtown Atlanta where Andrews was executed

The Ohio monument dedicated to the Andrews Raiders is located at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. There is a scale model of the General on top of the monument, and a brief history of the Great Locomotive Chase. The General is now in the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, Kennesaw, Georgia, while the Texas is on display at the Atlanta History Center.

One marker indicates where the chase began, near the Big Shanty Museum (now known as Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History) in Kennesaw, while another shows where the chase ended at Milepost 116.3, north of Ringgold — not far from the recently restored depot at Milepost 114.5.

Historic sites along the 1862 chase route include the following:

Kennesaw House, 21 Depot St. (c.1845), a hotel on the L&N railway in Marietta, Georgia, is a contributing building in the Northwest Marietta Historic District. In 1862 this was the Fletcher House hotel where the Andrews Raiders stayed the night before commandeering The General.[8]

Finally, there is a historical marker in downtown Atlanta, at the corner of 3rd and Juniper streets, at the site where Andrews was hanged.

  1. ^ Hughes, Micheal Anderson (1991). "The Struggle for Chattanooga, 1862-1863". p. 10 – via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
  2. ^ Cline, Wayne (1997). Alabama Railroads. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press. p. 4.
  3. ^ Bowery Jr 2014, p. 36.
  4. ^ Bowery Jr 2014, p. 40.
  5. ^ Prokopowicz 2014, p. 1.
  6. ^ a b Kenneth H. Thomas, Jr. (June 22, 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Calhoun Depot". National Park Service. Retrieved August 10, 2016. with nine photos from 1981
  7. ^ https://www.t-g.com/story/2463205.html
  8. ^ a b David T. Agnew and Elizabeth Z. Macgregor (April 7, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Northwest Marietta Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved September 11, 2016. with 18 photos from 1974-75; #16 shows Kennesaw House
  9. ^ Site of Andrews Raiders hanging
  10. ^ Stealing the General
  11. ^ DeMaria & Wilson 2004, p. 282.
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