The original mission had been
proposed by 33 year old Virginian and Union spy James J. Andrews, and quickly
embraced by Union Generals Buell and Mitchell. In fact Brigadier General
Ormsby Mitchell was so enamored with the plan that he personally joined
Andrews when he went to three Ohio regiments on April 7, 1862 to enlist
volunteers for the daring foray into enemy territory. In all, 23 young
soldiers volunteered their services despite Andrew's very limited
briefing. A 24th man joined the group. He was civilian
William Campbell who happened to be visiting his friend Private Philip
Shadrach at the time. When Shadrach volunteered to join the effort, the
200 pound William Campbell volunteered to join him.
The brave soldiers were told
little more than that they should separate into small groups and travel
separately through enemy lines to Marietta, Georgia. Four days later 21
of the volunteers had successfully arrived to meet Andrews in the small city
just north of Atlanta, and the plans for their daring raid unfolded.
Their mission was to purchase tickets as passengers on a Confederate train,
then take control of the train and travel north 100 miles to Chattanooga
wreaking havoc and burning bridges along the way to disrupt Confederate troop
movements and communications.
At 5 A.M. the following morning
Andrews and 19 of his volunteers boarded the passenger cars behind the steam
engine General. (For whatever reason two of the
volunteers failed to meet their train.) It was April 12th, one year to
the day after the opening shots of the Civil War had been fired at Fort
Sumter. A short time after the train left Marietta it pulled into the
small stop at Big Shanty where the passengers and crew dismounted for
breakfast at the Lacey Hotel. Andrews and his 19 men stayed aboard,
prepared to make their move. There was no telegraph office at the
stop in Big Shanty to broadcast news of what the raiders were about to do, the
very reason Andrews had selected this site to begin his operation.
When the passengers and crew were
out of sight Andrews and his men calmly but quickly separated the General,
its coal tender and three box cars from the rest of the train, all without
arousing the suspicion of the soldiers at nearby Camp McDonald. It was a
simple but audacious act. Their work done, sixteen of the commandos
boarded the three box cars. Andrews entered the engine with Privates
Wilson Brown and William Knight, both engineers in their own right.
The final soldier assumed the role of fireman and the legitimate crew of the
General looked up from their breakfast to the startling sight of the General
leaving Big Shanty without them.
The courage of Andrews and his men
this day would, however, be challenged by the courage of their enemy as well.
The General's engineer Jeff Cain was joined by two of his crew Anthony Murphy
and William Fuller in a desperate effort to recover their train. The
three ran after the train on foot, pursuing it for two miles to Moon's Station
where they found a hand-propelled cart to continue their pursuit.
Over the first twenty miles of
their journey north from Big Shanty, Andrews and his men took time to pull up
rail behind them and drop timbers across the tracks to discourage any possible
pursuit, as well as cutting telegraph lines that might have sent news of their
desperate mission ahead to waiting Confederate troops. As they passed
the Etowah River however they made a fatal mistake, ignoring the presence of
the old steam engine Yonah as they continued on towards
Kingston. Cain and his crew however, didn't overlook the enhanced
pursuit vehicle and quickly traded their hand car for the aging mechanical
one.
At Kingston the raiders had faced
a frustrating delay caused by other train traffic. Confident that
the cut telegraph lines had prevented news of their raid from reaching
Kingston they patiently but nervously paced the siding as the flow of
south-bound trains held them in place. They were still not aware
that Cain was pursuing them and gaining milage with each minute of delay.
Finally, after more than an hour, Andrews and his men continued their journey
north, just as Cain was arriving at the rail yard. The two groups were
only ten minutes apart.
At Kingston Cain, Fuller and
Murphy traded the aging Yonah for the William R. Smith to
continue their pursuit. Four miles north of Kingston however, they
had to abandon the William R. Smith when they encountered track that
had been taken up by Andrews' Raiders shortly after they had departed the
city. Refusing to give up, Murphy and Fuller ran on foot the 3 miles to
Adairsville where they encountered a southbound train pulled by The Texas.
Releasing the cars, the two continued their pursuit, The Texas
running in reverse but gaining on the raiders.
Two miles north of Calhoon Andrews
halted the trek of the General long enough to again attempt to damage
the track to foil any possible pursuit. As the dismounted raiders were
going about their work they became aware for the first time that the pursuit
was real. Quickly the men reboarded and Brown and Knight opened the General's
throttle to the maximum. Still running backwards The Texas
continued, also running at full steam in what would ever after become known as
the GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE.
Through the towns of Resaca and
then Dalton the two engines raced. The raiders dropped timbers behind
them but they failed to slow The Texas. In desperation the
raiders cut loose two of the three box cars, but even these failed to halt the
determined pursuit. Just south of the covered bridge over the Oostanaula
River the 21 raiders crowded onto the General and its coal tender and set fire
to and released the remaining box car in an attempt to burn the wooden bridge.
Still soggy from the rains that had earlier delayed the raiders initial
journey into Georgia, the bridge refused to ignite and the chase continued.
As it became increasingly more
obvious that The General would not make Chatanooga the raiders began to jump
one by one from the train and race for the shelter of the woods. Then,
two miles north of Ringgold and just five miles from Tennessee, The
General gasped its last puff of steam and the remaining raiders ran in
desperation to avoid capture. The Great Locomotive Chase was over the
the flight for life had begun.
Within a week Andrews and all 21
raiders, including the two who had failed to board the train for its 87 mile
race into history, were captured. In Atlanta, James Andrews was tried
and convicted as a spy. On June 7th he was hanged. Eleven days
later on June 18th seven more raiders including the civilian William Campbell
and his friend Private Shadrach and two of the three NCOs were also hanged as
spies. The remaining 14 young soldiers were placed in prison camps to
await what they assumed would be a similar fate. Bold, daring and with
nothing to loose they engineered a daring escape four months later with 8 of
them reaching safety, the other six being recaptured. It was these six
young men, recently released in exchange for Confederate prisoners, who
now stood before the Secretary of War to recount the tale of their ordeal.
The Secretary was moved by the story. Then a thought
crossed his mind and he stepped briefly into an adjoining room at the War
Department, returning momentarily with something in his hand.
"Congress," he told the young men, "has by recent law ordered
medals to be prepared on this model. Your party shall have the first;
they will be the first that have been given to private soldiers in this
war." Then he stepped before the youngest of the group, Private
Jacob Parrott and presented the FIRST Medal of Honor ever awarded. When
he had followed suit with the remaining five he walked them to the White House
to meet the President, setting the stage for a tradition that would dominate
similar presentations beginning some half century later.
The following September, 9 more of the raiders were presented
Medals of Honor for their participation in the raid. Eventually 19 of
the 24 men including four of those hanged as spies were awarded Medals of
Honor. As civilians neither James J. Andrews or William Campbell were
eligible for the award. Below are the names of the
19....Private Philip Schadrach not among them. For Private Schadrach had
served, been tried and hanged...under an assumed name.
Andrews' Raiders
(Click on any of their names to read their citation)
| |
Name
|
Unit
|
Date
of Award
|
| 1 |
Pvt
Jacob Parrott
|
Co
K, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
March
25, 1863
|
| 2 |
Pvt
William Bensinger
|
Co
G, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
March
25, 1863
|
| 3 |
Pvt
Robert Buffum
|
Co
H, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
March
25, 1863
|
| 4 |
Sgt
Elihu H. Mason
|
Co
K, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
March
25, 1863
|
| 5 |
Sgt
William Pittinger (Pittenger)
|
Co
G, 2d Ohio Infantry
|
March
25, 1863
|
| 6 |
Cpl
William H. Harrison Reddick
|
Co
B, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
March
25, 1863
|
|
Cpl
Daniel Allen Dorsey
|
Co
H, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
September
17, 1863
|
|
**SgtMaj
Marion A. Ross
|
2d
Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Pvt
Mark Wood
|
Co
C, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Pvt
John Reed Porter
|
Co
G, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Pvt
Wilson W. Brown
|
Co
F, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Pvt
William J. Knight
|
Co
E, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Pvt
John Alfred Wilson
|
Co
C, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
**Pvt
Samuel Robertson
|
Co
G, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Cpl
Martin Jones Hawkins
|
Co
A, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
September,
1863
|
|
Pvt
James (Ovid) Smith
|
Co
I, 2d Ohio Infantry
|
July
6, 1864
|
|
Pvt
John Wollam
|
Co
C, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
July
20, 1864
|
|
**Sgt
John Morehead Scott
|
Co
F, 21st Ohio Infantry
|
August
4, 1866
|
|
**Pvt
Samuel Slavens
|
Co
E, 33d Ohio Infantry
|
July
28, 1883
|
WEB NOTES:
Raider William Pittenger went on to become a minister after his war service
and published the story of the raiders in 1863's DARING AND SUFFERING: A
HISTORY OF THE GREAT RAILROAD ADVENTURE. This historical account was
reprinted by Golden West Books in 1966 under the title IN PURSUIT OF THE
GENERAL.
Disney's classic black & white "Great Locomotive
Chase" staring Fess Parker immortalized the historic adventure of
Andrew's Raiders.
In 1961 The General was restored and is on public display at The
Kennesaw Civil War Museum in Kennesaw, Georgia.
For more on Andrew's Raiders visit the excellent site at http://ngeorgia.com/history/raiders.shtml
