Andrews' Raiders

Andrews' Raiders was a Union military raiding party that executed a daring railroad sabotage mission deep within Confederate territory in April 1862. Led by the civilian James J. Andrews, the group of 22 soldiers and two civilians commandeered a Confederate locomotive in an attempt to destroy critical rail and telegraph lines between Atlanta and Chattanooga. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the operation, known as the Great Locomotive Chase, became one of the most celebrated episodes of the American Civil War and resulted in the first Medal of Honors ever awarded.

Background and planning

In early 1862, the Union Army sought to disrupt Confederate Army supply lines supporting operations in Tennessee and Kentucky. Brigadier General Ormsby M. Mitchel, commanding the Union Army of the Ohio, approved a plan proposed by the civilian scout and Union spy James J. Andrews. The objective was to infiltrate Georgia, seize a train on the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad, and drive it north to Chattanooga, burning bridges, tearing up track, and cutting telegraph wires along the way to isolate the city ahead of Mitchel’s planned advance. Andrews recruited volunteers from three Ohio infantry regiments: the 2nd, 21st, and 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The men, dressed in civilian clothes, were to travel in small groups to avoid detection and rendezvous at Marietta, Georgia.

The Great Locomotive Chase

On the rainy morning of April 12, 1862, Andrews and 19 of his men boarded a northbound passenger train, the *General*, at Marietta, Georgia. When the train stopped for breakfast at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw, Georgia), the crew and Confederate soldiers aboard disembarked. Andrews’ team seized the *General* and its three boxcars, and began their northward dash. The train’s conductor, William Allen Fuller, gave chase on foot, then by handcar, and eventually commandeered other locomotives, including the *Texas*, which he ran in reverse in a relentless pursuit. The raiders faced delays from southbound traffic and failed to do significant damage to the track or burn the key Oostanaula River and Chickamauga Creek bridges due to the rain and their dwindling time. After an 87-mile chase, with the *Texas* closing in and their fuel exhausted, Andrews abandoned the *General* just north of Ringgold, Georgia, and his men scattered into the woods.

Capture and imprisonment

Within days, all the raiders were captured by Confederate authorities and Georgia Militia across northern Georgia and Tennessee. They were taken to Atlanta and imprisoned at the old Fulton County Jail, treated as spies and saboteurs rather than regular prisoners of war. Conditions were harsh, and the men faced intense interrogation. On May 31, after a brief military trial, a Confederate court found Andrews and seven others guilty. The remaining raiders were later transferred to Knoxville and then to Madison, where they endured further confinement under the threat of execution.

Trial and execution

James J. Andrews was executed by hanging in Atlanta on June 7, 1862. Seven soldiers—Privates George D. Wilson, Marion A. Ross, Perry G. Shadrach, and Samuel Slavens, along with Samuel Robertson, John Scott, and John Wollam—were hanged on June 18. The remaining 14 prisoners made a daring escape from the Castle Thunder prison in Richmond on October 16, 1862, though only eight successfully reached Union lines; the other six were recaptured. These six, along with two who had not attempted the escape, were later exchanged for Confederate prisoners of war in March 1863.

Aftermath and legacy

The surviving raiders returned to the Union Army as heroes. On March 25, 1863, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton presented the first-ever Medal of Honors to 19 of the 24 raiders, including several posthumously; Andrews, as a civilian, was ineligible. The mission, though a tactical failure, became a powerful propaganda victory for the Union, celebrated for its audacity. The event was immortalized as the “Great Locomotive Chase” in numerous accounts, books, and later in a Walt Disney film. The locomotives *General* and *Texas* are preserved as historic artifacts, and the raid is commemorated at sites along the chase route, including the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia. The medals awarded established the precedent for the United States’ highest award for military valor. Category:American Civil War raids Category:Union Army soldiers Category:1862 in Georgia (U.S. state)