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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1962)
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON MONDAY. APRIL 16. 19S2 SPIES STEAL TRAIN On April 12, 1862, 20 Federal spies stole the Chattanooga mail train from the station at Big Shanty, Ga. The Confederates gave chase in another train and finally caught them. The 20 tried to escape but were captured. Eight were hanged and the others either escaped or were exchanged. Here is an artist's drawing of the Union spies running away from "The General" as the chase ended. (UPI) By MERTON T. AKERS UPI Correspondent The Chattanooga mail train of the Georgia State railroad topped for breakfast as usual Saturday morning, April 12, 1862, at Big Shanty, Ga., eight miles northwest of Marietta. The crew and most of the passengers piled out and dash ed for the railroad cafe. Twenty of the passengers seemed to be in no hurry to eat and loitered around the train. ' Once the crew had disap peared Into the cafe, the 20 went to work. Some uncou pled the head of the train locomotive, tender and three box cars. Five mounted the cab, 15 piled into the boxcars. The wheels of the locomotive, ' called "The' General," spun as the engineer pulled the throt tle wide open and the train started north toward Chatta nooga, Tenn., about 100 miles up the line. A 'Confederate sentinel stood a dozen paces away, musket in hand, looking on curiously but not attempting to interfere. The train crew rushed out of the cafe when they heard the engine start. Union Spies Then all was uproar and confusion at the Big Shanty station. (It is called Kenne saw now.) For the 20 men were Union spies and they had stolen a train in the heart of the Con federacy. The object of the daring enterprise was to wreck the railroad and burn the bridges from there to Chattanooga and beyond into Federal lines at Huntsville. Ala., if possible. With its communications to the east wrecked, Chatta nooga would fall easy prey to Maj. Gen. Ormsby Mitchel and his Federal troops who already had cut the line west of Chattanooga. At least, Mit chel thought so. The expedition, sanctioned by General Mitchel, was led by James J. Andrews, a Ken tuckian and Union spy. The others were soldiers from Ohio regiments who had vol unteered. All wore civilian clothing, which automatically made them spies if caught be hind enemy lines. They had been told that capture almost certainly meant death. Three of the original train crew left standing at the sta tion started after the fleeing train on foot, much to the amusement of the onlookers. The conductor, W. A. Fuller; his engineer, J. Cain and a Winema Forest Roads Are Closed Klamath Falls-Many of the roads in the new Winema Na tional forest in the Klamath Falls area are still closed by snow, according to Earl Karlinger, Klamath district ranger. Only road open in the Lake of the Woods area is the Dead Indian highway, he said. Re mainder of the roads are still closed by snow at an average depth of 3Va feet, he added. The west side Klamath lake rd. has been plowed but, be cause of deep ruts caused by thaw, it is recommended that cars not drive past Malone Springs from the south and to Threemile creek from the north. Travel should be limited to surfaced roads until the spring thaw is over, the ranger sug gested. Travel during wet con ditions causes heavy damage to the forest road system, he warned. road superintendent, Anthony Murphy, puffed three miles up the track after the train. Then they commandeered a handcar from a track crew and continued the backbreak- ing chase for 20 miles to Eto wah station, where they found an old iron company engine with steam up. They seized it and renewed the pursuit. The Union raiders stopped frequently to tear up rails and cut telegraph lines. Each time Fuller and his crew stopped also, tore up rails in the rear, relaid them ahead in the dam aged stretches and hastened on. At Kingston, Ga., about 25 miles from Big Shanty, they were 20 minutes behind the raiders. Another 20 miles just The Great Locomotive Chase north of Calhoun, Ga. the pursuing locomotive came upon the raiders, who were tearing up track and oiling "The General." Locomotive Btaring Down Here the Rev. William Pit tenger, 2nd Ohio Volunteers and one of the raiders, takes up the story: ". . . Not far behind we heard the scream of a locomo tive bearing down on us at lightning speed! The men on board were in plain sight and well armed! Two minutes perhaps one would have re moved the rail at which we were toiling . . , But the most desperate efforts were in vain. The rail was simply bent, and we hurried to our engine and darted away. , . . "Now the contestants were in clear view, and a most ex citing race followed . . . we dropped one car, and shortly after, another; but they were 'picked up' and pushed ahead to the Resaca station . , , We broke out the end of our last boxcar and dropped crossties on the tracks as we ran, thus checking their progress and getting far enough ahead to take on wood and water at two separate stations . . ." On through Dalton, Ga., the race went. "We made no attempt to damage the long tunnel north of Dalton," Pittenger wrote. ". . . the last hope of our raid was now staked upon an ef fort of a different kind . , . The side and end boards of the last car were torn in sheds, all available fuel was piled upon it, and blazing brands brought back from the engine. By the time we ap proached the long covered bridge the fire in the car was fairly started. We uncoupled it in the middle of the bridge and with painful suspense awaited the issue . . , Before the bridge was extensively fired the enemy was upon us. They pushed right into the smoke and drove the burning car before them to the next sidetrack . . ." Out of Fual The raiders were out of fuel for their locomotive, too, "Our situation was indeed desperate," Pittenger wrote. They stopped their engine reversed it and took to the woods, every man for him self. The steam pressure in "The General" was so low that the pursuing engine easily re versed in time to absorb the bump. There north of Ringgold, Ga., 18 miles short of Chatta noogo, "The Great Locomo tive Chase" came to an end. Militarily the raid was a failure. But the daring of the raiders caught the fancy .of the North. Likewise the per sistence of Fuller and Murphy in running down the raiders against odds stirred the South to applause. The 20 soon were captured. A militia muster was being held in Ringgold that. Satur day and the militiamen de ployed over the countryside in the manhunt. Judge Advocate General Jo seph Holt reported the end of the raid to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton: "The captives were thrust into the Negro-jail at Chatta nooga. They occupied a single room, half underground, and but 13 feet square; so that there was not enough space for them all to lie down to gether , . , The only entrance was through a trapdoor in the ceiling , . . They were covered with swarming vermin . . . Add to this, they were all handcuffed, and, with tce chaines secured by padlocks pa wmKmrmrvr THIS A 5 ,1 CBflLSWAR around their necks, were fas tened to each other in compa nies of twos and threes. Their food, which was doled out' to them twice a day, consisted of a little flour wet with water and baked in the form of bread, and spoiled pickled beef ..." Leader Convictad A court martial convicted Andrews, the leader, and sev en others as spices and sen tenced them to death. The hangings occurred at Atlanta, June 18, 1862. The eight who were hanged were: Andrews; W il 1 1 a m Campbell, a civilian who had volunteered for the raid; George D. Wilson, Co, B, 2d Ohio; Marion A. Ross, Co. A, Nothing protects like IVERSON PAINTS 4th ind BirtUrt Gold Bond Stampi and BLOSSOM BUCKS! 2d Ohio; Perry Shadrack, Co. K. 2d Ohio; Samuel Slavens, 33rd Ohio; Samuel Robinson, Co. G. 33rd Ohio; and John Scott, Co. K, 21st Ohio. The others either escaped or were exchanged. Pittenger was among those exchanged. The first Medals of Honor, the United States' highest award for valor, were given to the Andrews Raiders. Money From Crater Finance Is Like MONEY FROM HOME! 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