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Known as "Andrews' Raiders

James J. Andrews

James J. Andrews,     Kentucky, Leader               Hung 
William. Knight,      Co. E, 21st Ohio Volunteers.   Escaped 
Wilson H. Brown,      Co. F, 21st Ohio.              Escaped
Mark Wood,            Co. C, 21st Ohio.              Escaped 
Alfred Wilson,        Co. C, 21st Ohio.              Escaped 
John R. Porter,       Co. G, 21st Ohio.              Escaped 
Robert Buffum,        Co. H, 21st Ohio.              Exchanged 
William Bensinger,    Co. G, 21st Ohio.              Exchanged 
John Scott,           Co. F, 21st Ohio.              Hung 
Sargent E. A. Mason   Co. K, 21st Ohio.              Exchanged
Daniel A. Dorsey,     Co. H, 33d Ohio.               Escaped 
Martin J. Hawkins,    Co. A, 33d Ohio.               Escaped 
John Whollan(Wollam), Co. C, 33d Ohio.               Escaped 
Jacob Parrot,         Co. K, 33d Ohio. Corporal      Exchanged 
William Reddick,      Co. B, 33d Ohio.               Exchanged 
Samuel Roberson       Co. G, 33d Ohio.               Hung 
Samuel Slavens,       Co. D, 33d Ohio.               Hung 
William Pittinger,    Co. G, 2d Ohio. Corporal       Exchanged 
George D. Wilson,     Co. B, 2d Ohio.                Hung 
Marion Ross,          Co. A, 2d Ohio, Sergeant-Major Hung 
Perry D. Shadrack,    Co. K, 2d Ohio.                Hung 
William. Campbell     Kentucky.                      Hung

In Pursuit of the Raiders

Crew of the General

Conductor William Fuller

William A. Fuller, Conductor
E. Jefferson (Jeff) Cain, Engineer
Anthony Murphy, Foreman of Machinery and Motive Power for the Western and Atlantic Railroad

Crew of the Texas

Peter James Bracken, Engineer
Henry Haney, Fireman
Fleming Cox, Engineer - Mr. Cox was an engineer on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad who relived Haney as fireman.
Alonzo Martin - boarded in Calhoun. Unloaded tender car.

Others involved:

Edward R. Henderson - Telegraph operator (messenger), Dalton
Jackson Bond - worked at Moon's Station. Continued on with the pursuers to Ringgold.

The Locomotives

The General - Combined passenger-frieght train that ran from Atlanta to Chattanooga and back. The train stolen by Andrews' Raiders

The Texas - Freight train that was heading south on the W&ARR. Picked up by Fuller and the pursuers south of Adairsville.

The Yonah - First train picked up by the pursuers at Etowah Station.

William R. Smith - Train on the Rome RR. "Long Bill" Smith was first president of the railroad.

The Catoosa - Often overlooked player in the Great Locomotive Chase, the crew of the Catoosa nearly ended the chase north of Adairsville. After letting the General go by, and seeing the Texas following, they joined the run behind the Texas.

Additional Sources:

www.locomotivegeneral.com
www.cviog.uga.edu

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.

LOCOMOTIVE "THE GENERAL"
Atlanta GA
1864

The locomotive Texas, like the General, was built in, Paterson, New Jersey, but not by the same builder. The Texas was built by Danforth, Cooke & Company and placed in service on the Western & Atlantic Railroad in October, 1856. The original cost of the Texas was $9,050. At the time, the gauge of the Western & Atlantic RR was five feet, and the Texas was built to that gauge. The drivers were 60 inches in diameter, and there were four, together with four leading truck wheels, making the locomotive of the well known American type with a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement. Her cylinders were fifteen inches in diameter, and the stroke was 22 inches. The Texas was of the same power and approximately the same size as the General. The engine was shipped from New Jersey by water to Savannah and there put on the rails of the Central Railway of Georgia to Macon and thence over the rails of the Macon & Western RR to Atlanta. One of the first modifications made to the engine in the shops of the Western & Atlantic RR was to replace the pilot or cow catcher with one of horizontal pieces of strap iron. This type of cow catcher was a mark of engines of the Western & Atlantic RR in those days, and all pilots were of this type. The man who made them was Richard A. "Uncle Dick" Saye, who died in 1910.

During the Civil War period, it was customary to assign a locomotive to assign a locomotive to an engineer and to a special run. In April, 1862, the Texas was assigned to Peter James Bracken, engineer, and his fireman was Henry P. Haney. Braken was a man of 28 years while Haney was a mere lad of fifteen years. They were assigned to a regular freight run between Dalton and Atlanta. At Dalton, the Western & Atlantic RR was connected with the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad which served east Tennessee and had connections to the north and east. On April 11, 1862, the Texas ran north leaving Atlanta about 10:00 AM, and arriving in Dalton around 6:00 PM. On the morning of April 12, 1862, Bracken left Dalton with the Texas and 21 loaded cars bound for Atlanta. About two miles south of Adairsville, he was flagged by Conductor William A. Fuller and Anthony Murphy, foreman of the Machinery and Motive Power at the State Road Shops in Atlanta. These two were afoot at this point seeking to overcome their train pulled by the General, which had been stolen that morning by the Union raiding party led by James J. Andrews, spy and contraband merchant. Bracken knew both Fuller and Murphy, and he stopped his train and took them aboard. They proceeded to tell Bracken what had happened, and Bracken backed his train to Adairsville. Just a few minutes before, the General, with its three cars, had passed him at Adairsville, and he was curious then about the train speeding through with no one aboard who was familiar to him. They reached Adairsville within a few minutes, and the 21 cars were set aside on the fly. Then The Great Locomotive Chase was on more even terms, even though the Texas was running in reverse.

The pursuit of the General by the Texas continued northward for some 51 miles before the General was abandoned by the Andrews Raiders about two miles north of Ringgold. Certainly the Texas was the hero of this run, but through the years, the General has received most of the credit and notoriety. Captain Fuller was inclined towards the Texas, as he stated in an interview in 1895, "The question as to whether the General or the Texas should have the honors has been discussed. I am rather inclined to the Texas, but at the same time I never could have availed myself of the service of the Texas if I had not succeeded in getting the William R. Smith at Kingston; nor could I have got to the Smith if the Yonah had been out of reach at Etowah. And if I had not had the use of the old handcar from Moon's Station to Etowah, I never could have reached the Yonah in time. So all of these came in for a share." Along with the Texas should be honored those men who were running her. At the top of the list is Peter James Bracken, the engineer; Henry P Haney, the fireman; Alonzo Martin, wood passer; and Fleming Cox, brakeman, together with Conductor William A. Fuller, and foreman Anthony Murphy.

As the chase ended and the raiders abandoned the General and fled into the woods, each man for himself, Braken eased the Texas to within a few feet of the General. He then directed young Haney to go aboard and see if anything was wrong. Haney found the firebox door open and very little fire in the firebox. He then tried the water cocks and found little or no water in the boiler. After a wait of 20 or 30 minutes, the Texas took the General in tow and moved her back to Ringgold. Here the General was left, and Bracken and Haney with the Texas went on down to Adairsville where they picked up their freight cars and proceeded to Atlanta, just as though nothing had happened.

In October, 1895, Peter J. Bracken summed up his experience in running the Texas on April 12, 1862 in a letter to William A. Fuller as follows: "I was running the Texas on the day that Andrews stole the General. If I had not been running myself, I would not have rode on her with anyone else running, as I would not (have) taken the chances or run the risk we run that day with any one else handling the engine. It makes me nervous now when I think of the X-ties on the track. I do not want any unnecessary notoriety about the chase and would not answer or pay any attention to those questions from any one else but on account of old times and old friendship, I will answer them to the best of my recollection and ability. My recollections are that no one else touched the throttle of my engine from the time I saw you coming down the hill east of Adairsville until we run up on the General about three miles above Ringgold."

Original Medal of Honor