Conference smurf::civil_war

    
    All the raiders were captured within ten days and taken to a rough
    jail Chattanooga.
    
    Eight of the raiders were tried as spies(the raiders had been caught
    dressed as civilians, not soldiers) in summary courts-martial while in
    Tennessee, and then, after reaching Atlanta, were told the verdict:
    	"Guilty...to be hung by the neck until dead."
    
    James Andrews did leave his bones in Dixie. On june 7, 1862, he was
    hanged at the corner of Third and Juniper streets in Atlanta.
    Actually, he was strangled to death. The cord was to long so Andrew's
    feet touched the ground. While they dug the dirt from under his feet,
    he gradually strangled.
    
    The dirt digging was done by Fuller, who was there in fulfillment of
    his declared intention of seeing the raiders at the end of a rope.
    
    In late afternoon of June 18, the other seven convicted men were
    hanged. The seven stood on the gallows, from a joist resting in the
    forks of two trees hung the seven nooses. Back of them yawned the
    trench which they were to be laid.
    
    Again the bungling manner of preparing the ropes extended the agony
    of two of the raiders, who broke their and fell to the ground. They
    were given water, revived, and then, with ropes again in place, swung
    out to join their five companions. In rough boxes, their bodies were
    laid in the trench and dirt filled in upon them.
    
    The remaining raiders were not brought to trial in Atlanta, as had
    been intended, because of the confusion of the advancing Union forces.
    On October 8, 1862, eight of them escaped from prison, made their way
    to Union lines, and, after recovering from their ordeal rejoined their
    regiments.
    
    During the winter the other six raiders were transferred to Richmond
    and, on March 17, 1863, were exchanged from Castle Thunder Prison for
    important Southern political prisoners held by the North.
    
    Later, the six survivors of "the Great Locomotive Chase" recieved the
    nation's first Medals of Honor.
    
    
    Other related reading, see Raider William Pittenger's firsthand
    account, "The Great Locomotive Chase", or Charles O'Neill's 
    "Wild Train."
    
    				The Alabama Slammer

The General now resides in, what was once known as, the Old Frey Cotton Gin
which was renovated (in 1972) to serve as a Train and Civil War museum (known
as the Big Shanty Museum).

The museum has a 20-minute documentary video which tells the story of Andrews
Raid.  In addition, they have lots of memoriabilia on display including a
Civil War Medal of Honor.

According to information I have, there was a court battle as to its rightful 
ownership.  Apparently, the City of Kennesaw won.

-Andy

    
    .0>> of the Tennessee border.  They were all caught, and about half of them
    .0>> were executed.  All were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; they
    .0>> were the very first recipients of it.
    
    	The irony is that all but one were awarded the medal of honor.
    	 James J. Andrews did *not* receive it.  He was a civilian, and
    	 therefore ineligible...
    
    
    
    
    					-Rich
    

    
    	I would think that most of them recieved it posthumously? Since
    it seemed that most were hanged as spies as I typed some of the fates
    of the raiders in an earlier reply??
    
    					The Alabama Slammer 

The following are written-accounts I extracted from the various historical 
markers and monuments present across the RR tracks from the railroad museum
and depot in Kennesaw, GA.  Some redundant info has been omitted.  Any
misspelling is my own -- this was dictated, not hand written.  Any inaccuracy
in the information is not my own.

A comment:  I -seem- to recall that one of the tablets (the one that listed
the names of Andrews Raiders) said who among them received the Medal of
Honor.  Perhaps it was all who survived?

-Andy

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

About 6:00am April 12, 1862, a Federal spy and contraband merchant James J. 
Andrews of Kentucky together with 20 soldiers and 1 civilian of Kentucky,
seized the locomotive General and three box-cars while the train's crew and 
passengers were breakfasting at the Lacy Hotel.  

Intending to sabatoge the State railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga, 
the raiders steamed north to destroy track and burn bridges on the Western & 
Atlantic Railroad and thereby cut off the Confederate army from its base of 
supplies.  

Conductor William A. Fuller accompanied by engineer Jeff Cain and Anthony 
Murphy, foreman of the W&A Railroad shops commenced pursuit on foot.  They 
soon secured a hand-car and, in spite of the obstructions placed on the track 
by Andrews Raiders, made rapid progress.  They found the engine Youna {sp?} 
at Etowah and the pursuit then was at such a rapid pace that serious damage 
to the railroad by the raiders was impossible.  

After a chase of 87-miles, the General was abandoned by the raiders on account 
of lack of fuel and the close pursuit of conductor Fuller and his party.

Executed as spies:

 James J. Andrews	Flemingsburg, KY
 M.A. Ross			   2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 G.D. Wilson		Company B,       "           "
 C.P. Shadrack		Company K,       "           "
 J.M. Scott		Company F, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 S. Slavins		Company E, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 S. Robertson		Company G,       "           "
 W.H. Campbell		Citizen of Kentucky

Escaped from prison and reached the Union lines:

 J.A. Wilson		Company C, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 Mark Wood		      "          "           "
 J.R. Porter		Company G,       "           "
 W.W. Brown		Company F,       "           "
 W.M. Knight		Company E,       "           "
 D.A. Dorsey		Company H, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 Martin Hawkins		Company A,       "           "
 John Walham		Company C,       "           "

Exchanged from Libby Prison:

 William Pittinger	Company G, 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 Jacob Parrot		Company K, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 William H. Reddick	Company B,       "           "
 Rob Buffum		Company H, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry
 William Bessinger	Company G, 	 "           "
 E.H. Mason		Company K, 	 "           "

The first locomotive Fuller found was the Yonah; it was the property
of an industry at Etowah and was, if memory serves, standing on Rome RR
track at the time.  It was of the 4-2-0 wheel arrangement, meaning that
it had a lead truck of four wheels and two driving wheels.  He later
exchanged it for the Texas, which was of the then-most-usual wheel
arrangement, 4-4-0, also called "American."  The Texas was, as I said,
southbound, and the chase was to the north.  The purpose of an engine's
lead truck was to support the boiler and also to lead the engine into
curves; Fuller's incredible feat of running it backward at high speed
over dangerously curved trackage earns him the highest respect for his
courage and determination.

I have an HO scale model of the Texas, which I built by altering a
commercial model of the General.  I used information in a book on the
Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway, which absorbed the W&A,
for my recreation.

-d

RE: [-.1]

>I have an HO scale model of the Texas, which I built by altering a
>commercial model of the General.  

MPC came out with a plastic model of the GENERAL.  It's about 2 feet long
(O scale?)...  I have one that needs restoring, and will go in my train room.

Randy

Be advised that the MPC plastic General, which I have seen but chose not
to buy, depicts the locomotive pretty much as she is today.  In 1862
she looked *radically* different.  Her cylinders were not level, she
had strap-iron rails along her sides that made her look like an outside-
framed engine, she had no running boards forward of the cab, and the
dome and sandbox on the boiler were both differently-shaped than they
are now.  If memory serves, she also had a different spark catcher
at the top of her stack.

It is characteristic of steam locomotives that their appearance changes
over time; the Texas also looked differently than she does today.

If you're nuts enough to want to fashion a historically accurate model
from your kit, I can supply you with a Xerox of the drawing made by
Wilbur G. Kurtz, who was a recognized authority on the engines involved
in the Great Locomotive Chase.  His reconstruction was what I used for
my Texas.

-d

Thanks, but I will restore her to the "as she looks today" appearance, because
that's the way I remember her.

The year was 1962, and the GENERAL was on tour on the L&N.  I was a 9-year
old boy, playing in the backyard when I heard the steam whistle, and looked
over to the tracks 1/2 mile to the north, just in time to see the train
heading into town (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) from Evansville.

Mom got my brother and me in the car, and we went to the L&N station, where
she sat with a coach.  I talked with a guy dressed like Abe Lincoln.  Oddly,
I was wearing my gray C.W. uniform, and "Abe" asked me if we (the Confederacy)
were going to try to take her back!  I told him we would.

My brother's picture appeared in "L&N" magazine about that time, as he was 
wanting to be an engineer.

Randy

    
    
    	I grew up in Marietta, Georgia.  It neighbors Kennesaw to the
    west.  Local speculation was that Anderson was destroying the track
    in order to help Sherman's advance on Atlanta.  I know this could
    not be true because the Atlanta campaign did not commence for many
    months after that.  Does anybody out there have a feel for the
    chronology?
    	Big Shanty, as the town was called, later became the City of
    Kennesaw.  Yes, the same city that became famous a few years ago
    for requiring residents to own a handgun.  Kennesaw Mountain is now
    a National Battlefield Park, but the Battle at Kennesaw is another
    story... 

    RE .10:
    
    Local speculation is a bit garbled.  Anderson's raid was intended to
    destroy the rail line in order to prevent reinforcements from being
    sent to Chattanooga.  The local Union commander had his eye on
    capturing that city, but was worried about reserves in Atlanta being
    rushed north.
    
    Rarely did an advancing army try to destroy a rail line in front of
    them.  They needed it for their own supply!  Anderson was trying to
    disable a line that would _still_ have been behind Confederate lines
    after Chattanooga was taken.
    
    MikeR