Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Great Locomotive Chase

Starting point is 00:00:00 On April 12, 1862, one of the most daring and audacious events of the American Civil War took place. It wasn't a major battle. It didn't involve armies lining up across each other on an open field. Instead, it was one of the first examples in military history of a raid designed to deny the enemy access to the most vital technology of the 19th century. The Railroad. Learn more about the great locomotive chase and how railroads became a strategic war objective on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time

Starting point is 00:00:50 to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. The great locomotive chase stands as one of the most daring and dramatic episodes of the American Civil War, combining elements of espionage, high adventure, and 19th century technological warfare. By April 1862, the Civil War had completed its first year. It had already gone longer than most people assumed it would have at the onset of the conflict.

Starting point is 00:01:30 This story begins with the Union Army under General Don Carlos Buell, advancing towards Chattanooga, Tennessee, a crucial railroad hub that connected the eastern and western theaters of the Confederacy. Meanwhile, General Ormsby-McKnight Mitchell's forces were moving through northern Alabama and Georgia, creating pressure on Confederate supply lines. The railroad network was the lifeline of the Confederate War effort in this region. The Western and Atlantic Railroad, running from Atlanta northward through Marietta, Kennesaw, and Antichatnuga, carried troops, supplies, and communications that kept the Confederate forces operational. If this line could be severed at a critical moment, it might cripple Confederate ability. to reinforce their positions and coordinate their defense. And this made perfect sense, but it was also something that was still uncommon in military history.

Starting point is 00:02:22 Railroads were still a relatively new technology. In a previous episode, I touched about how the British had used railroads during the Crimean War less than a decade earlier. They built a railway to supply and transport their troops. However, railways had not yet achieved the status of strategic objectives. During the American Civil War, both sides had well-established rail infrastructure and utilized their railways to support their war efforts. Hence, if you could damage the enemy's rail system, you could harm their ability to wage war. The raid was conceived by James J. Andrews, a civilian scout and spy from Kentucky, who had previously conducted intelligence gathering missions for the Union.

Starting point is 00:03:03 He had spent years before the war running contraband goods through the border regions, giving him intimate knowledge of southern railroads, and an ability to blend in among Confederate civilians. When the war began, Andrew offered his services to the Union as a spy and savature. Andrews possessed the kind of bold imagination that military bureaucracies rarely produce. His plan was eloquently simple in concept, but breathtakingly complex in execution. His plan called for a small group of Union soldiers, disguised in civilian clothes, to infiltrate the South, hijack a Confederate locomotive, and destroy bridges, railroad tracks, and telegraph lines as they move northward,

Starting point is 00:03:44 thereby disrupting Confederate communications and supply routes in advance of a planned union offensive on Chattanooga. Andrews recruited 22 volunteers from Ohio regiments, primarily from the 2nd and 33rd Ohio Infantry. These weren't professional spies or saboteurs. They were ordinary soldiers, many of them railroad workers in civilian life, who volunteered for what they understood to be a dangerous mission behind enemy life. lines. The volunteers included men like William Pittenger, who would later write the most

Starting point is 00:04:14 detailed account to the adventure, as well as Joshua Brown, Marion Ross and John Wollum, names that would become legendary in railroad folklore. The infiltration phase of the operation demonstrated the remarkable audacity of this entire enterprise. These Union soldiers, traveling in small groups or individually, made their way hundreds of miles into enemy territory. They posed as Kentucky civilians seeking to avoid Union military service, as traveling salesmen, or as workers seeking employment in the South. These men were in deep hostile territory, surrounded by Confederate soldiers and suspicious civilians, knowing that discovery meant certain death as spies.

Starting point is 00:04:52 They had to maintain their cover stories while navigating unfamiliar terrain and dealing with Confederate checkpoints and patrols. The rendezvous point for everyone was Marietta, Georgia, a small town about 20 miles north of Atlanta on the Western and Atlantic Railroad line. This location was chosen because it was far enough away from Atlanta to avoid heavy Confederate presence, yet close enough to major railroad facilities to make the plan feasible. On the morning of April 12, 1862, Andrews and his volunteers gathered at the Lacey Hotel in Marietta. The plan called for them to board the regular northbound passenger train and execute their theft at the train station in Big Shanty, Georgia, now known as Kennesaw, where the train made a scheduled breakfast stop. Big Shanty was chosen strategically.

Starting point is 00:05:38 The town served as a Confederate training camp, which might seem counterintuitive. Andrews reasoned that the very presence of Confederate soldiers would make the theft more unexpected because nobody would be expecting it that deep in Confederate territory. More importantly, Big Shanty had no telegraph office, which meant a delay in any alarm being raised. At approximately 6 a.m., the northbound train pulled into the Big Shanty station. the locomotive pulling the train was called the General, a handsome 440 American-type engine built by Rogers locomotive in Machine Works. As passengers and crew disembarked for breakfast at the station house,

Starting point is 00:06:17 Andrews and his men made their move. While Confederate soldiers were eating breakfast, mere yards away, Union Raiders quietly uncoupled the passenger cars, leaving only the locomotive, tender, and three box cars. Andrews took the engineer's position while several of his men climbed aboard. With a blast of the whistle and clouds of steam, they were off, leaving behind a station full of bewildered Confederates. Having stolen a train in broad daylight from under the noses of Confederate troops, now came the far more difficult task of racing 87 miles through enemy territory,

Starting point is 00:06:50 while systematically destroying the railroad behind them. What happened next transformed a simple, daring raid into an epic chase that would become the stuff of legend. William Fuller, the conductor of the stolen train, refused to accept what he had just seen. Along with Anthony Murphy, a railroad mechanic, and Jeff Kane, the engineer, Fuller began pursuing the stolen locomotive on foot. Initially, this might have seen almost comical, three men chasing a locomotive while running. However, Fuller's intimate knowledge of the railroad and his determination would prove to be formidable assets. The Raiders, meanwhile, faced unexpected challenges that slowed their progress and gave their pursuers crucial opportunities to catch up.

Starting point is 00:07:34 Operating a stolen locomotive, while destroying railroad infrastructure, proved far more complex than Andrews had anticipated. The Raiders needed to stop frequently to cut telegraph wires, tear up track, and burn bridges. Each stop cost precious time and allowed their pursuers to close the gap. Moreover, the Western End Atlantic was a busy railroad. The Raiders encountered several southbound trains that they had to deal with carefully. They couldn't just crash through, as that would create debris that might derail their own locomotive.

Starting point is 00:08:06 Instead, they had to convince station masters and train crews that they were running a special powder train for Confederate forces, a story that worked initially but became harder to maintain as word of the theft spread. Fuller and his companions demonstrated remarkable persistence and ingenuity. When they found a hand car, they used it to continue their pursuit. When the handcar was derailed by track damage that the raiders had caused, they continued on foot until they found another locomotive, the Yona at Ettawa Station. The Yona carried them to the town of Kingston,

Starting point is 00:08:36 where they commandeered a more powerful locomotive called the William R. Smith. When that engine was blocked by a freight train, they then switched to another locomotive called the Texas, running it backwards in their pursuit of the train. This succession of locomotives illustrates both the complexity of the railroad network and the determination of the pursuers. Every time they switched trains, it took time, but it also brought more Confederate forces into the chase,

Starting point is 00:09:01 creating a growing wave of pursuit behind the fleeing raiders. As the chase continued northward, it became increasingly clear that Andrew's plan was unraveling. The raiders had hoped to destroy key bridges and tunnels, but their repeated stops to cut wires and damaged track had given their pursuers crucial time to close the gap. More critically, they were running low on fuel and water. The psychological pressure on both sides was enormous.

Starting point is 00:09:27 The Raiders knew that capture meant death, while their pursuers understood that allowing armed Union soldiers to escape through Georgia would be a catastrophic failure. The chase had evolved into a high-stakes race where minutes could mean the difference between success and disaster. Near Ringgold, Georgia, just 18 miles from Chattanooga, and the potential safety of Union forces, the general finally ran out of steam.

Starting point is 00:09:51 The Raiders abandoned the locomotive and scattered. into the woods, hoping to reach union lines on foot. This moment represents one of the great what-ifs of the American Civil War. Had the raiders reached Chattanooga, they might have accomplished their mission of disrupting Confederate communications and supply lines at a crucial moment in the war. Instead, they found themselves hunted fugitives in hostile territory. Within days, all 22 of the raiders were captured. Eight, including Andrews, were executed as spies.

Starting point is 00:10:22 The others eventually escaped from prison or were exchanged. Fourteen of the survivors became the first recipients of the newly created Medal of Honor, America's highest military decoration. The execution of Andrews and his companions became a source of controversy and union propaganda. The Confederates argued that the men were spies operating behind enemy lines in civilian clothes and therefore subject to execution under the laws of war. The union portrayed them as heroic soldiers carrying out, legitimate military operations. The Great Locomotive Chase showcased several important themes in

Starting point is 00:10:59 the American Civil War. First, it demonstrated the crucial importance of railroads in 19th century warfare. The raid targeted the railroad not just as infrastructure, but as the nervous system of Confederate military operations. Second, it illustrates the evolution of military tactics to include what we now might call special operations, small units operating independently behind enemy lines to achieve strategic objectives. Andrew's raid was one of the earliest examples of this type of warfare in American military history. Third, the chase became a powerful propaganda tool for both sides, demonstrating how individual acts of courage could capture public imagination and serve broader

Starting point is 00:11:37 political purposes. And finally, this might have been the first high-speed chase in world history, or at least it was for a few moments. And by high-speed, I just mean, anything faster than a running horse, because such a thing wasn't even really possible up until this point in time. The locomotives involved, particularly the general, became historical artifacts in their own right. The general survived the war and is currently located at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia. The Texas, the train that chased them,

Starting point is 00:12:12 is located at the Atlanta History Center. The story was loosely the basis for the early silent film by Buster Keaton called the General, and it was also the basis of a 1956 Disney film called The Great Locomotive Chase. The Great Locomotive Chase demonstrates how the Civil War was fought, not just on battlefields, but along railroad lines, telegraph wires, and supply routes that connected the military front to the industrial and agricultural base that sustained it. And it also reminds us that in modern warfare, infrastructure becomes both weapon and target, and that sometimes the most audacious plans, even when they fail, can achieve a kind of immortality that outlasts the conflict that spawn them.

Starting point is 00:12:55 The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Oaken and Cameron Kiefer. This is just a quick reminder that I'll be hosting the Everything Everywhere Daily fifth anniversary party on July 19th in Appleton, Wisconsin. If you'd like to attend, information and an RSVP are available in a link in the show notes. If we can get a decent turnout in the middle of Wisconsin, then I might look into doing similar events around the country and maybe even outside of the U.S.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Today's review comes from listener, Die, Die, Die, Die, or maybe it's German for DDD, over on Apple Podcasts in Australia. They write, love it. Personally, I would recommend this to go to sleep with, but I would like to hear that this podcast has Budgies and the history of their colors, from Budgie Dude 233.

Starting point is 00:13:44 Well, thanks, Budgie Dude. for those of you who aren't familiar with what a budgie is, it's basically a parakeet. In particular, a very colorful one that is native to Australia. I have to confess, this is an area that I haven't really researched and don't know very much about, but I'd certainly be willing to learn more about them. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you two can have it run on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Great Locomotive Chase

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