In 1862, during the early days of the Civil War, Union civilian spy James J. Andrews led a daring mission to steal a Confederate train from a depot in Kennesaw. Andrews and twenty-three men planned to take The General to Union lines in Chattanooga, destroying tracks along the way.

Of the twenty-four men, two were pressed into the Confederate Army before the attempt and two others overslept, missing the train. On April 12, 1862, "The General" pulled into the Lacy Hotel in Kennesaw for breakfast. Andrews and his men took the train while much of its crew was inside. Confederate William A. Fuller and two others chased on foot, then continued to pursue by train until encountering tracks destroyed by the raiders. This forced them to switch trains again, this time to the most famous of those in the region, "The Texas." Due to rain, Andrews’ plan to burn bridges took more time than anticipated, allowing "The Texas" to narrow the gap. When Andrews and the raiders ran out of wood, his men abandoned "The General" and attempted to outrun the Confederates, but were quickly captured in what was known as “the most stupendous man-hunt that ever took place in the South.” The chase lasted less than 48 hours.

Fearing unfair Confederate trials, the raiders attempted to escape. Eight men succeeded, but others were recaptured and brutalized. According to official Confederate reports, a total of eight raiders were given trials before their executions. However, Lieutenant William Pittenger, one of the raiders, asserted that during the escape “some of them succeeded in reaching [Union] lines in Kentucky. Others were caught, and some of them were hung without a trial!” One man “who, on being arrested, acknowledged that he helped burn the bridges . . . was put into a barrel driven with sharp, small-pointed nails and rolled down a steep hill- then taken out … and hung!” Although sources are inconsistent about the nature of the executions, they concur that eight escaped, eight were executed, and six were imprisoned in Richmond until a prisoner exchange in 1863.

The exchanged prisoners traveled to Washington, D.C., to tell their stories to Union officials. At the end of the meeting, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton spoke of a new Union medal—the highest military honor. Despite the failure of their mission, Stanton presented the first ever Medal of Honor to the six raiders.

Credits and Sources:

Researched and written by Logue Shamburger, Trevor Rowland, and Catherine Christopher, students at the Westminster Schools.

Angle, Craig. The Great Locomotive Chase. State College, PA: Jostens Printing & Publishing, 1992.

Bonds, Russell S. Stealing the General: the great locomotive chase and the first Medal of Honor. Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2007.

Pittenger, William. Daring and Suffering. Scituate, Mass.: Digital Scanning, 2000. Smith, Daniel D. Sr. The First Recipients: Andrews'/Mitchel's Raid. N.p.

Wall Text. Cyclorama. Steam Locomotive, Texas.Cyclorama, Atlanta, GA.