The Great Locomotive Chase

he Great Locomotive Chase, also known as the Andrews' Raid, was a military exercise that occurred on April 12, 1862, in northwestern Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the federal Union Army, led by civilian scout James J. Andrews, commandeered a locomotive -- Western & Atlantic Railroad's The General -- and took it northward toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, along their way doing as much damage as possible to the vital Western & Atlantic mainline between Atlanta to Chattanooga. The Federals were pursued by Confederate forces first on foot, then later on a succession of handcars and locomotives -- including, by the end, a sister W&A locomotive The Texas.

Because the Union raiders cut telegraph wires as they went along, the Confederates in pursuit of The General could not send warnings ahead to Southern forces along the railway. Nevertheless, short on wood and water, The General eventually lost steam and came to a stop north of Ringold, Georgia -- some 87 miles from their starting point in Big Shanty (Kennesaw), Georgia. Confederates eventually captured the raiders and quickly executed some as spies, including Andrews; some others were able to escape capture. Some of the Union raiders were the first to be awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States Congress for their actions. Andrews himself, a civilian, was not elegible.

The nearly 90-mile stretch of railroad on which the Andrews' Raid took place is still in operation today as a CSX Transportation mainline between Atlanta and Chattanooga. After the war, the State of Georgia-owned Western & Atlantic was leased twice to the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad, which in 1957 would be absorbed by the growing Louisville & Nashville system. L&N itself would become part of the Family Lines conglomerate, which would form the core of CSX Transportation in the early 1980s. Various historical markers can still be found along the Great Locomotive Chase right-of-way.

Likewise, the principle Western & Atlantic locomotives involved in the Chase both survive today, each cosmetically restored. After multiple owners, leases, rebuilds, and legal squabbles, The Texas eventually found a retirement caretaker in the City of Atlanta. After many years on display at the city's Grant Park and Cyclorama exhibit, The Texas has been externally restored to its War-era look and is on display at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, Georgia. Similarly, the better-known General was also spared from the scrapper's torch following its retirement from road service in the late 1800s. W&A lessor Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis displayed the locomotive in its Chattanooga Union Station for years, until successor Louisville & Nashville rehabilitated #3 for operation during the years leading up to the Civil War centennial in the 1960s. After a legal battle over the rightful ownership of the engine, it eventually founds its way to state ownership and permanent display in Kennesaw, Georgia, just 100 yards from the starting point of the Chase. Today that museum is known as the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History.