View source for Great Locomotive Chase

{{Short description|1862 raid during the American Civil War}}
{{For|the 1956 film about the event|The Great Locomotive Chase}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict    = Great Locomotive Chase
| width       =
| partof      = the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War]]
| image       = File:DoV1-018 - Mitchel Raid.jpg
| image_size  =
| alt         =
| caption     = The Andrews Raiders set a train car on fire to try to ignite a covered railway bridge and thwart Confederate pursuit.
| date        = April 12, 1862
| place       = [[Western and Atlantic Railroad]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
| coordinates = {{coord|34|1|24|N|84|36|55|W|display=inline,title}}
| map_type    = Georgia (U.S. state)
| map_relief  = no
| map_size    =
| map_marksize =
| map_caption = Adairsville, Georgia
| map_label   = Big Shanty (Kennesaw)
| territory   =
| result      = [[Confederacy (American Civil War)|Confederate]] victory, ''[[The General (locomotive)|The General]]'' recaptured
| combatants_header =
|combatant1={{flag|United States|1862}} ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]])
|combatant2={{flag|Confederate States|1861}} ([[Confederacy (American Civil War)|Confederacy]])
| commander1  = [[James J. Andrews]]{{POW}}
| commander2  = [[William Allen Fuller|William Fuller]]<br /> [[Danville Leadbetter]]
| units1      = [[2nd Ohio Infantry|2nd]], [[21st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry|21st]], and [[33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment]]
* ''[[The General (locomotive)|The General]]''
| units2      = [[Western and Atlantic Railroad]]
* ''[[The Texas (locomotive)|The Texas]]''
* ''[[The Yonah (locomotive)|The Yonah]]''
| strength1   = 24
| strength2   = 3 (At start)
| casualties1 = 23{{POW}}<br />(8 executed later)
| casualties2 = None
| notes       =
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Confederate Heartland Offensive}}
}}

The '''Great Locomotive Chase''' (a portion of the '''Andrews' Raid''' or the '''Mitchel Raid''') was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern [[Adairsville, Georgia|Georgia]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Volunteers from the [[Union Army]], led by civilian scout [[James J. Andrews]], [[Commandeering|commandeered]] a train, ''[[The General (locomotive)|The General]]'', and took it northward toward [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]], doing as much damage as possible to the vital [[Western and Atlantic Railroad]] (W&A) line from [[Atlanta]] to Chattanooga as they went. They were pursued by [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] forces at first on foot, and later on a succession of [[locomotive]]s, including ''[[The Texas (locomotive)|The Texas]]'', for {{convert|87|mi}}.

Because the Union men had cut the telegraph wires, the Confederates could not send warnings ahead to forces along the railway. Confederates eventually captured the raiders and quickly executed some as [[espionage|spies]], including Andrews; some others were able to flee. The surviving raiders were the first to be awarded the newly created [[Medal of Honor]] by the US Congress for their actions. As a civilian, Andrews was not eligible.

== Military background ==
{{Further|Western Theater of the American Civil War}}
[[File:ACW Western Theater September 1861 - April 1862.png|300px|thumb|left|The strategic situation in March and April 1862.]]
After the Union capture of [[Battle of Fort Henry|Fort Henry]] and [[Battle of Fort Donelson|Fort Donelson]] in February, Confederate [[General (CSA)|General]] [[Albert Sidney Johnston]] withdrew his forces from central Tennessee to reorganize.<ref name="Bowery">{{cite book |last=Bowery Jr |first=Charles R. |date=2014 |title=The Civil War in the Western Theater 1862 |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-7/cmhPub_75-7.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906045447/http://history.army.mil/html/books/075/75-7/cmhPub_75-7.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |publisher=Center of Military History |page=17}}</ref> As part of this withdrawal, Johnston evacuated Nashville on February 23, surrendering this important industrial center to Union Brig. Gen. [[Don Carlos Buell]]'s [[Department of the Ohio]] army and making it the first Confederate state capital to fall to the Union.{{sfnp|Nevin|1983|p=96}}{{sfnp|Gott|2003|pp=266–267}}{{sfnp|Esposito|1959|loc=maps 30–31}}{{full citation needed|date=September 2020}} After taking Nashville, Buell showed little inclination for further offensive operations, especially towards the pro-Union region of [[East Tennessee]]. On March 11, Buell's army was merged into the new [[Department of the Mississippi]] under General [[Henry Halleck]]. In late March, Halleck ordered Buell southwest to reinforce [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s army near [[Pittsburg Landing]] on the [[Tennessee River]]. Buell departed, leaving a 7,000-man garrison in Nashville along with Maj. Gen. [[Ormsby M. Mitchel|Ormsby Mitchel]]'s 10,000-man 3rd Division.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=15}}  Mitchel had earlier assisted in the capture of Nashville and accepted the surrender of the city. With the withdrawal of both Confederate and Union forces towards western Tennessee, central Tennessee became an economy of force operation. Facing minimal Confederate resistance, Mitchel moved his division southeast out of Nashville on March 18 towards [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee|Murfreesboro]], arriving on March 20.{{sfn|Bonds|2006|p=}}

==The first raid: March==
[[File:James J. Andrews engraving.jpg|left|thumb|upright|James J. Andrews]]
[[James J. Andrews]] was a Kentucky-born civilian serving in [[Tennessee]] in the spring of 1862 as a spy and scout for [[Major General]] [[Don Carlos Buell]].{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=16}} Sometime before Buell departed Nashville in late March, Andrews presented him with a plan to take eight men to steal a [[train]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and drive it north. Buell would later confirm in August 1863 that he authorized this expedition.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=471}} {{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=14}} According to Andrews, a train engineer in [[Atlanta]] was willing to defect to the Union with his train, if Andrews could supply a volunteer train crew to assist running the train, tearing up track, and burning bridges.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=442}} The main target was the railway bridge at [[Bridgeport, Alabama]], although future Andrews Raider [[William Pittenger (soldier)|William Pittenger]] believed Andrews also intended to target several other bridges in Georgia and Tennessee.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=16}} The volunteers for this first raid all came from General Mitchel's division, which was encamped at [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee]]. Moving south forty miles on foot to the Confederate [[railhead]] at [[Tullahoma]], the raiders were then able to travel by train to [[Marietta, Georgia]].{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=442}} There, Andrews discovered the engineer had been pressed into service elsewhere. Andrews asked if any of the raiders knew how to operate a locomotive; when none did, he called the raid off.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|pp=444–445}} Two raiders were also confronted by Confederate soldiers while trying to cut the telegraph lines, but successfully pretended to be overworked wiremen.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=445}} The raiders then returned north to Union lines, arriving about a week after they had departed. Andrews spent several additional days conducting reconnaissance on the Western and Atlantic Railroad before also departing back north to federal lines. None of the original raiders would volunteer for the second raid. One added that "he felt all the time he was in the enemy’s country as though he had a rope around his neck."{{sfn|Bonds|2006|p=34}}

==Background==
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2018}}

[[File:Norfolk Southern Big Hill Pond State Park 1.jpg|thumb|This section of the [[Norfolk Southern Railway]] was originally part of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad]][[Major general (United States)|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 and Charleston Railroad|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==
[[File:Andrews Raiders.jpg|thumb|Illustration of nineteen men involved in the Great Locomotive Chase—seventeen Union soldiers and two railroad employees who chased them]]
[[File:Raiders1888.jpg|thumb|1888 reunion picture of the "Raiders" at a [[Grand Army of the Republic]] encampment at Columbus Ohio]]
{{anchor|Andrews' Raiders}}[[James J. Andrews]], still a civilian scout and part-time spy, proposed another daring raid to Mitchel that would destroy the Western and Atlantic Railroad as a useful reinforcement and supply link to Chattanooga from Atlanta and the rest of Georgia. He recruited the men known later as the Andrews Raiders. These were the civilian [[William Hunter Campbell]] and 22 volunteer Union soldiers from three Ohio regiments: the [[2nd Ohio Infantry|2nd]], [[21st Ohio Infantry|21st]], and [[33rd Ohio Infantry]]. Andrews instructed the men to arrive in [[Marietta, Georgia]], by midnight of April 10, but heavy rain caused a one-day delay. They traveled in small parties in civilian attire to avoid arousing suspicion. All but two (Samuel Llewellyn and James Smith) reached the designated rendezvous point at the appointed time. Llewellyn and Smith joined a Confederate artillery unit, as they had been instructed to do in such circumstances.  Andrews' proposal was a combined operation; General Mitchel and his forces would first move on Chattanooga; then, the Andrews’ Raid would promptly destroy the rail line between Chattanooga and Atlanta. These essentially simultaneous actions would bring about the capture of Chattanooga.  Andrews' Raid was intended to deprive the Confederates of the integrated use of the railways to respond to a Union advance, using their interior lines of communication.

The plan was to steal a train on its run north towards Chattanooga, stopping to damage or destroy track, bridges, telegraph wires, and track switches behind them, so as to prevent the Confederate Army from being able to move troops and supplies from Atlanta to Chattanooga.  The raiders planned to cross through the Federal siege lines on the outskirts of Chattanooga and rejoin Mitchel's army.

Because railway [[dining car]]s were not yet in common use, railroad timetables included water, rest, and meal stops. They planned to steal a train just north of Atlanta at Big Shanty, Georgia (now [[Kennesaw, Georgia|Kennesaw]]). They chose Big Shanty because they thought Big Shanty did not have a telegraph office<ref>{{cite magazine| title=The Second Battle of Big Shanty| first=Ben F.| last=McCollum| magazine=Georgia Magazine| date=February–March 1962| pages=31–33}}</ref> and the stop would also be used to refuel and take on water for the steep grade further north.

==The chase==
===Big Shanty to Kingston===
[[File:William Fuller.jpg|thumb|upright|Conductor [[William Allen Fuller|William A. Fuller]]]]
The raid began on April 12, 1862, when the regular morning passenger train from Atlanta, with the locomotive ''[[The General (locomotive)|General]]'', stopped for breakfast at the Lacy Hotel. They took the ''General'' and the train's three [[boxcar]]s, which were behind the tender in front of the passenger cars. The passenger cars were left behind. Andrews had previously obtained from the work crew a crowbar for tearing up track.

The train's [[conductor (transportation)|conductor]], [[William Allen Fuller]], and two other men, chased the stolen train, first on foot, then by a [[handcar]] belonging to a work crew shortly north of Big Shanty. Locomotives of the time normally averaged {{convert|15|mph|km/h}}, with short bursts of speed of about {{convert|20|mph|km/h}}. In addition, the terrain north of Atlanta is very hilly, and the [[Ruling gradient|ruling grades]] are steep. Even today, average speeds are rarely greater than {{convert|40|mph|km/h}} between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Since Andrews intended to stop periodically to perform acts of sabotage, a determined pursuer, even on foot, could conceivably have caught up with the train before it reached Chattanooga.

At Etowah, the raiders passed the older and smaller locomotive ''[[The Yonah (locomotive)|Yonah]]'' which was on a siding that led to the nearby Cooper Iron Works. Andrews considered stopping to attack and destroy that locomotive so it could not be used by pursuers, but given the size of its work party (even though unarmed) relative to the size of the raiding party, he judged that any firefight would be too long and too involved, and would alert nearby troops and civilians.

As the raiders had stolen a regularly scheduled train on a railroad with only one track, they needed to keep to that train's timetable. If they reached a [[Siding (rail)|siding]]  ahead of schedule, they had to wait there until scheduled southbound trains passed them before they could continue north. Andrews claimed to the station masters he encountered that his train was a special northbound ammunition movement ordered by General Beauregard in support of his operations against the Union forces threatening Chattanooga. This story was sufficient for the isolated station masters Andrews encountered (as he had cut the telegraph wires to the south), but it had no impact upon the train dispatchers and station masters north of him, whose telegraph lines to Chattanooga were working. These dispatchers were following their orders to dispatch and control the special train movements southward at the highest priority.

[[File:Routelrg r1 c1.gif|thumb|left|Map of the chase route, with locations of various events marked]]
Thus delayed at the junction town of Kingston, as the first of the southbound freight evacuation trains approached, Andrews inquired of that train's conductor why his train was carrying a red marker flag on its rear car.  Andrews was told that Confederate Railway officials in Chattanooga had been notified by Confederate Army officials that Mitchel was approaching Chattanooga from [[Stevenson, Alabama]], intending to either capture or lay [[siege]] to the city, and as a result of this warning, the Confederate Military Railways had ordered the Special Freight movements.  The red train marker flag on the southbound train meant that there was at least one additional train behind the one which Andrews had just encountered, and that Andrews had no "authority for movement" until the last train of that sectional movement had passed him. The raiders being delayed at Kingston for over an hour, this gave Fuller all the time he needed to close the distance.

===Kingston to Adairsville===
[[File:Western & Atlantic Railroad Yonah.jpg|thumb|The ''Amenia'' locomotive of the [[New York and Harlem Railroad]], built by 	Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor a year after the company built the ''Yonah'', which is believed to have been of similar design.]]
The raiders finally pulled out of Kingston only moments before Fuller's arrival. They still managed north of Kingston again to cut the telegraph wire and break a rail. Meanwhile, moving north on the handcar,<ref>[https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=2948 'Rails Across America', Association of American Railroads, School and College Service, Washington D.C., 1960] 8</ref> Fuller had spotted the locomotive ''[[The Yonah (locomotive)|Yonah]]'' at Etowah and commandeered it, chasing the raiders north all the way to [[Kingston, Georgia|Kingston]]. There, Fuller switched to the locomotive ''William R. Smith,'' which was on a sidetrack leading west to the town of [[Rome, Georgia]], and continued north towards [[Adairsville, Georgia|Adairsville]].

[[File:Texas after cosmetic restoration at Spencer Shops, NC Transportation Museum.jpg|thumb|''[[The Texas (locomotive)|The Texas]]'' after cosmetic restoration at Spencer Shops, [[North Carolina Transportation Museum]].  The engine is now on display at the [[Atlanta History Center]].]] Two miles south of Adairsville, however, the pursuers were stopped by the broken track, forcing Fuller and his party to continue the pursuit on foot. Beyond the damaged section, he took command of the southbound locomotive ''[[The Texas (locomotive)|Texas]]'' south of Calhoun, where Andrews had passed it, running it backwards. The ''Texas'' train crew had been bluffed by Andrews at Calhoun into taking the station siding, thereby allowing the ''General'' to continue northward along the single-track main line. Fuller, when he met the ''Texas'', took command of her, picked up eleven Confederate troops at Calhoun, and continued his pursuit, [[Tender (rail)|tender]]-first, northward.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1159/| title=On this Date in Civil War History: The Great Locomotive Chase – April 12, 1862| website=This Week in the Civil War}}{{dead link|date=September 2020}}</ref>

===Adairsville to Ringgold===

The raiders now never got far ahead of Fuller and never had enough time to stop and take up a rail to halt the ''Texas''. Destroying the railway behind the hijacked train was a slow process. The raiders were too few in number and were too poorly equipped with the proper railway track tools and demolition equipment, and the rain that day made it difficult to burn the bridges.  As well, railway officials in Chattanooga had sufficient time to evacuate engines and rolling stock to the south, hauling critical railroad supplies away from the Union threat, so as to prevent their either being captured by General Mitchel or trapped uselessly inside Chattanooga during a Union siege of the city.

[[File:The General abandonded.jpg|thumb|Andrews's men abandon the ''General'']]

With the ''Texas'' still chasing the ''General'' tender-first, the two trains steamed through [[Dalton, Georgia|Dalton]] and [[Tunnel Hill, Georgia|Tunnel Hill]]. The raiders continued to sever the telegraph wires, but they were unable to burn bridges or damage Tunnel Hill. The wood they had hoped to burn was soaked by rain. Just before the raiders cut the telegraph wire north of Dalton, Fuller managed to send off a message from there alerting the authorities in Chattanooga of the approaching stolen engine.

Finally, at [[milepost]] 116.3, north of [[Ringgold, Georgia]], just 18 miles from Chattanooga, with the locomotive out of fuel, Andrews's men abandoned the ''General'' and scattered. Andrews and all of his men were caught within two weeks, including the two who had missed the hijacking. Mitchell's attack on Chattanooga ultimately failed.

==Aftermath==
===Trials and executions===
[[File:Andrews-raid-court-martial.png|thumb|left|Depiction of the court-martial of one of the raiders in Knoxville]]
Confederate forces charged all the raiders with "acts of unlawful belligerency"; the civilians were charged as [[unlawful combatant]]s and spies. All the prisoners were tried in military courts, or courts-martial. Tried in Chattanooga, Andrews was found guilty. He was executed by [[hanging]] on June 7 in Atlanta. On June 18, seven others who had been transported to Knoxville and convicted as spies were returned to Atlanta and also hanged; their bodies were buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave. They were later reburied in [[Chattanooga National Cemetery]].

===Escape and exchange===
Writing about the exploit, Corporal [[William Pittenger (soldier)|William Pittenger]] said that the remaining raiders worried about also being executed. They attempted to escape and eight succeeded. Traveling for hundreds of miles in pairs, the eight made it back safely to Union lines, including two who were aided by slaves and Union sympathizers and two who floated down the [[Chattahoochee River]] until they were rescued by the [[Union blockade]] vessel [[USS Somerset (1862)|USS ''Somerset'']] in the Gulf of Mexico. The remaining six were held as [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] and exchanged for Confederate prisoners on March 17, 1863.

==Medal of Honor==
{{Main|Medal of Honor}}
[[File:John-Morehead-Scott-MOH-crop.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Medal of Honor awarded posthumously in 1866 to raider John Morehead Scott.]]

On March 20, the recently released raiders arrived in Washington DC, and the following day Pittenger wrote a letter to [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Edwin M. Stanton]] detailing their mission to Georgia.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|pp=407, 410}} On March 24, they were interviewed by [[Judge Advocate General of the United States Army|Judge Advocate General]] [[Joseph Holt]], who was able to corroborate details of their mission with testimony from the raiders who had escaped in 1862.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|pp=410–411}} On March 25, they were invited to Stanton's office at the [[United States Department of War|Department of War]]. After a brief conversation, Stanton announced that the raiders would receive the newly approved [[Medal of Honor]]. Private [[Jacob Parrott]], who had been physically abused as a prisoner, was awarded the first. The others were Sergeant [[Elihu H. Mason]], Corporals William Pittenger and William H. H. Reddick, and Privates [[William Bensinger]], Wilson Wright Brown, and [[Robert Buffum]]. Stanton also offered them all commissions as First Lieutenant.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|p=413}} After the ceremony the six raiders were taken to the [[White House]] to meet President [[Abraham Lincoln]], which became a tradition for all Medal of Honor recipients.{{sfn|Pittenger|1885|pp=412–413}} Later, all but three of the other soldiers who had participated in the raid also received the Medal of Honor, with posthumous awards to families for those who had been executed. As civilians, Andrews and Campbell were not eligible. In 2008, the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] passed a bill which would retroactively award the Medal of Honor to two of the three remaining raiders, [[Philip G. Shadrach|Charles Perry Shadrack]] and George Davenport Wilson.<ref>{{USBill|110|HR|4986|pipe=Decorations and Awards|site=yes}}</ref> On July 3, 2024, President [[Joe Biden]] posthumously presented the medal to descendants of both Shadrack and Wilson.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-03 |title=Biden bestows Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territory |url=https://apnews.com/article/medal-honor-biden-civil-war-locomotive-f951c46a9efe66be4869fa3a78fef34d |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> All the Medals of Honor presented to the Andrews Raiders used identical text.

Citation:
{{Blockquote|One of the 19 of 22 men (including 2 civilians) who, by direction of Gen. Mitchell (or Buell) penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and tracks between Chattanooga and Atlanta.<ref>{{Cite web| publisher=Congressional Medal of Honor Society |title=Parrott, Jacob |url=http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2854/parrott-jacob.php |access-date = May 28, 2020}}</ref>}}

==Legacy==

Both ''The General'' and ''The Texas'' survived the war and have been preserved in museums. ''The General'' is located at the [[Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History]], in Kennesaw, Georgia, close to where the chase began. ''The Texas'' is at the [[Atlanta History Center]].

The first account of the chase was published a year after the event in 1863 by William Pittenger, one of the Andrews Raiders, under the title of ''Daring and Suffering''.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=28 July 2014 |title=Monument to honor William Pittenger |url=https://www.heraldstaronline.com/news/local-news/2014/07/monument-to-honor-william-pittenger/ |work=[[Herald-Star]] |location=Steubenville, Ohio |access-date=11 May 2020  }}</ref> It would be republished in 1881 as ''Capturing a Locomotive'' and 1889 as ''The Great Locomotive Chase''.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://www.loc.gov/item/02020072/| title=The great locomotive chase; a history of the Andrews railroad raid into Georgia in 1862| via=Library of Congress}}</ref> The book was a major success and was widely praised. Two decades later, one newspaper would claim it “was in half the old soldier households in the country.”{{sfn|Bonds|2006|p=}} 

[[Buster Keaton]]'s silent film comedy ''[[The General (1926 film)|The General]]'' is loosely based on Pittenger's memoirs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meade |first=Marion |title=Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase |location=New York |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-306-80802-1 |page=161}}</ref> 

In 1956, [[Walt Disney Pictures|Walt Disney Productions]] released the dramatic film ''[[The Great Locomotive Chase]]'', also based on Pittenger's memoirs, starring [[Fess Parker]] as Andrews and [[Jeffrey Hunter]] as Fuller and filmed on the [[Tallulah Falls Railway]] in North Carolina.<ref name="Disney">{{cite web |url=https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/making-great-locomotive-chase |title=Making The Great Locomotive Chase |last=Crawford |first=Michael |date=3 October 2011 |website=The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog |publisher=[[Walt Disney Family Museum]] |access-date=11 May 2020 }}</ref> [[Walt Disney]], who personally supervised parts of the production, also rented the 4-4-0 locomotives ''[[William Mason (locomotive)|William Mason]]'' to play ''The General'', the ''[[Virginia and Truckee 22 Inyo|Inyo]]'' to play ''The Texas'', and ''Lafayette'' to play ''The Yonah''.<ref name="Disney"/> The same year, [[Dell]] published a [[paperback]] original [[movie tie-in]], ''The Great Locomotive Chase'' by MacLennan Roberts, "Based on the Walt Disney Production and on authentic Civil War documents", according to the cover [[blurb]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://poshmark.com/listing/The-great-Locomotive-Chase-by-MacLennan-Roberts-1956-Paperback-Book-63b7021c9d619453948b0211?srsltid=Ad5pg_G_wvECwzOZkcF9QUfGQAVbCSYRMM-kaFuiV6TrOYbxbX4q5SAAeWg | title=The Great Locomotive Chase | author=MacLennan Roberts | date=1956 | access-date=2023-02-01 | archive-date=2023-02-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201111654/https://poshmark.com/listing/The-great-Locomotive-Chase-by-MacLennan-Roberts-1956-Paperback-Book-63b7021c9d619453948b0211?srsltid=Ad5pg_G_wvECwzOZkcF9QUfGQAVbCSYRMM-kaFuiV6TrOYbxbX4q5SAAeWg | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Since at least 1979, the city of Adairsville has held [[The Great Locomotive Chase Festival]], a three-day festival in October which commemorates the event.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.visitcartersvillega.org/na/Adairsville,_Georgia| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806085510/http://www.visitcartersvillega.org/na/Adairsville,_Georgia| archive-date=August 6, 2012| title=Adairsville, Georgia| website=Cartersville-Bartow County, GA}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://archivesspace.kennesaw.edu/repositories/4/resources/313| title=Great Locomotive Chase Festival Collection, 1979–2017| website=Kennesaw State University Archives| publisher=Kennesaw State University| date=2018}}</ref>

In 2000, composer [[Robert W. Smith (musician)|Robert W. Smith]] wrote a concert piece named for and inspired by the incident.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.rundel.de/en/the_great_locomotive_chase/a-159/4229| title=The Great Locomotive Chase| website=Rundel}}</ref>

In 2019, the raid was featured on [[Comedy Central]] show ''[[Drunk History]]'' in the episode "Behind Enemy Lines", narrated by [[Jon Gabrus]], with [[John Francis Daley]] portraying Andrews and [[Martin Starr]] as Fuller.<ref>{{cite news |last=Welk |first=Brian |date=22 July 2019 |title='Drunk History' Stages Mini 'Freaks and Geeks' Reunion With John Francis Daley and Martin Starr |url=https://www.thewrap.com/drunk-history-freaks-and-geeks-reunion-john-francis-daly-martin-starr-exclusive/ |work=[[TheWrap]] |location=Los Angeles, CA |access-date=11 May 2020 }}</ref>

==Monument and markers==

[[File:Chattanooga P1030674 (34136320374).jpg|thumb|alt=A white marble monument shaped like an altar with steps, with on top a bronze model of a steam engine, on a grassy cemetery with white headstones in the background|Andrews Raiders monument at [[Chattanooga National Cemetery]] in 2015]]
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 ''[[The General (locomotive)|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 [[Ringgold Depot|the recently restored depot at Milepost 114.5]].

[[File:James J. Andrews Plaque.jpg|thumb|Historical marker at the site in downtown Atlanta where Andrews was executed]]
Historic sites along the 1862 chase route include the following:
* marker near Big Shanty Museum
* [[Big Shanty Village Historic District]]
* [[Camp McDonald]]
* [[Acworth Downtown Historic District]]
* [[Tarleton Moore House]]
* [[Grand Theater (Cartersville, Georgia)]]
* [[Old Bartow County Courthouse]], now the Bartow History Museum, built so close to the railroad that court was interrupted when any train passed, not built until 1869
* [[Adairsville Historic District]]
* the [[Calhoun Depot]], built in 1852–53, at [[Calhoun, Georgia|Calhoun]], 10 miles north of Adairsville.<ref name=nrhpdoc-CalhounDepot>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=82002422}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Calhoun Depot|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=August 10, 2016 |author=Kenneth H. Thomas Jr. |date=June 22, 1982 }} with {{NRHP url|id=82002422|photos=y|title=nine photos from 1981}}</ref>
* [[Calhoun Downtown Historic District]]
* [[William Taylor House (Resaca, Georgia)]], associated with northern Georgia soldiers who fought for the Union in the Civil War, though house not built until 1913
* [[Masonic Lodge No. 238]], not built until 1915
* [[Dalton Commercial Historic District]]
* [[Western and Atlantic Depot (Dalton, Georgia)|Western and Atlantic Depot]], Dalton, Georgia
* [[Crown Mill Historic District]]
* [[Western and Atlantic Railroad Tunnel at Tunnel Hill]]
* [[Ringgold Gap Battlefield]], gap between White Oak Mountain and Taylor Ridge through which railway runs, site of November 1863 battle protecting Confederate retreat after [[Battle of Missionary Ridge]] at Chattanooga
* [[Ringgold Depot]]
* [[Ringgold Commercial Historic District]]
* marker at milepost 116.3

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 (locomotive)|The General]]''.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=75000586}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Northwest Marietta Historic District|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=September 11, 2016 |author=David T. Agnew and Elizabeth Z. Macgregor |date=April 7, 1975 }} with {{NRHP url|id=75000586|photos=y|title=18 photos from 1974–75; #16 shows Kennesaw House}}</ref>

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

==See also==
* [[East Tennessee bridge burnings]]
* [[Henry P. Haney]]
* [[List of Andrews Raiders]]
* [[Samuel P. Carter]]

==Notes==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |last= Bonds |first= Russell S. |date= 2006 |title= Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor |url= https://www.westholmepublishing.com/book/stealing-the-general-russell-s-bonds/ |publisher= Westholme Publishing |page= <!-- or pages= --> |isbn= 1-59416-033-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Esposito |first=Vincent J. |title=West Point Atlas of American Wars |location=New York |publisher=Frederick A. Praeger |year=1959 |oclc=5890637}} The collection of maps (without explanatory text) is available online at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20141006163936/http://www.usma.edu/history/SitePages/American%20Civil%20War.aspx West Point website].
* {{cite book |last=Gott |first=Kendall D |title=Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry – Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862 |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=2003 |isbn=0-8117-0049-6}}
* {{cite book |last= Gross |first= Parlee C. |date= 1963 |title=The Case of Private Smith and the Remaining Mysteries of the Andrews Raid |publisher=General Publishing Company }}
* {{cite book |last=Nevin |first=David |title=The Road to Shiloh: Early Battles in the West |location=Alexandria, VA |publisher=Time-Life Books |year=1983 |url=https://archive.org/details/roadtoshilohearl00nevi |isbn=0-8094-4716-9 }}
* {{cite book |last= O'Neill |first= Charles |date= 1959 |title=Wild Train: The Story of the Andrews Raiders |location=New York |publisher=Random House }}
* {{cite book |last=Pittenger |first=William |author-link=William Pittenger (soldier) |date=1885 |title=The great locomotive chase; a history of the Andrews railroad raid into Georgia in 1862,. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/02020072/ |location=New York |publisher=J.B. Alden }}
* {{cite book |last=Pittenger |first=William |author-link=William Pittenger (soldier) |date=1881 |title=Capturing a Locomotive: A History of Secret Service in the Late War. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36752/36752-h/36752-h.htm |location=Washington DC |publisher=The National Tribune }}
* {{cite book |last= Pittenger |first= Lieut. William |author-link= William Pittenger (soldier) |date= 1863 |title= Daring and Suffering: A History of the Great Railroad Adventure |url= http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20509 |publisher= J. W. Daughaday }}
* {{cite book |last=Rottman |first=Gordon L. |date=2009 |title=The Great Locomotive Chase – The Andrews Raid 1862 |url=https://ospreypublishing.com/store/military-history/series-books/raid/the-great-locomotive-chase-the-andrews-raid-1862 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84603-400-8 |access-date=2020-05-11 |archive-date=2022-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911113324/https://ospreypublishing.com/store/military-history/series-books/raid/the-great-locomotive-chase-the-andrews-raid-1862 |url-status=dead }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.southernmuseum.org Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History] in Kennesaw, GA. Home of ''The General''.
* [https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/explore/exhibitions/texas-locomotive Atlanta History Museum]. Home of ''The Texas''.
* [http://www.ngeorgia.com/history/raiders.html About North Georgia: The Great Locomotive Chase] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206004348/http://www.ngeorgia.com/history/raiders.html |date=2008-12-06 }}
* [http://railfanning.org/andrewsraid Railfanning.org: The Andrews Raid]
* [https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/andrews-raid New Georgia Encyclopedia: Andrews Raid]
* [https://www.ouramericanstories.com/podcast/history/the-tale-of-the-texas The Tale of the Texas – Our American Stories]

{{Georgia in the Civil War}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Great Locomotive Chase| ]]
[[Category:Rail transportation in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:1862 in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:1862 in rail transport]]
[[Category:Raids of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Railway weapons]]
[[Category:Battles and conflicts without fatalities]]
[[Category:Military operations of the American Civil War in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:April 1862]]
[[Category:Events that led to courts-martial]]