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CHAPTER 40 1862 URING 1862 the tempo of the war increased mightily and the original territory of the Confederate States of America grew smaller, through Federal occupation of some of its most important river cities and other points. In February came the surrender of Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, followed by the occupation of Nashville during the same month. In April the Confederacy lost one of its best soldiers in the death of General Albert S. Johnson at Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee; Huntsville, Alabama, was occupied by General O. M. Mitchel, and before the month was out New Orleans fell to Admiral Farragut. In May came the battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, in Virginia, followed in June by the occupation of Memphis, the Seven Days battles, Mechanicsville and Gaines Mill. Malvern Hill made headlines and produced casualties in July. August brought Cedar Hill and Second Manassas, while in September, up in Maryland , came bloody Antietam, or Sharpsburg. The battle of Perryville in Kentucky took place in October, while December produced Fredericksburg with its 18,000 casualties including the noted Thomas R. R. Cobb, of Georgia. The year closed, battlefieldwise, on December 31st with the battle of Murfreesboro or Stone's River in progress.1 All hopes of a short, easy war had vanished. The occupation of Huntsville, Alabama, on the Memphis and Charleston (now Southern) Railway on April 11, 1862, by General O. M. Mitchel, a division commander under Buell, was linked with the celebrated "Andrews' Railroad Raid." This daring project was designed to sever a vital artery, the Western and Atlantic Railroad between Atlanta, the heart of the Confederacy , and Chattanooga, which Mitchel expected to occupy upon learning that Andrews had destroyed the rails and bridges south of that place. Mitchel carried out his part of the plan as scheduled, on the llth, but Andrews postponed the raid until the 12th, a contributing factor to its failure. Thereby hangs an interesting drama, with Atlanta as the stage for the final act. James J. Andrews, a thirty-three-year-old citizen of Flemingsburg, Kentucky , and a man of courage and finesse, was chosen to lead the raiding party which consisted of twenty-two Federal spies—twenty Ohio soldiers and two Kentucky civilians. The precaution was taken to include qualified locomotive engineers and firemen in the group. The appointed rendezvous was Marietta, Georgia, to which point the raiders, all in civilian clothes, went in small groups. On the night of April llth all stayed at hotels in Marietta, and the next morning purchased tickets for various points along the W. & A. Early on the morning of the 12th a mixed passenger and freight train left Atlanta pulled by the locomotive "General." The engine had been purchased in January, 1856, and was built by Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor at Paterson, N. J. The wheel arrangement consisted of a four-wheel lead truck and two pairs of five foot drivers, the rear pair being directly under the cab. Like all of its contemporaries it was a wood burner. Included in the consist of the train that April morning were three empty box cars next to the engine. The train was in charge of conductor William A. Fuller and engineer Jeff Cain. D THE EIGHTEEN-SIXTIES 521 Also aboard was Anthony Murphy, foreman of the W. & A. shops in Atlanta, who was en route to Allatoona to inspect a water pump. ^Andrews' group, except two who overslept and were left behind, boarded the train at Marietta. From there it was a seven mile run to Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), where a scheduled stop of twenty minutes was made for breakfast, and where, by pre-arrangement the engine was to be stolen and the raid to begin. A determining factor in the choice of Big Shanty was the absence of a telegraph office. At the usual call "Big Shanty! Twenty minutes for breakfast!" all hands, including the train crew, adjourned to the Lacy House for the morning meal, leaving the train unguarded. That was the signal for Andrews and his men to take action. The pin was pulled between the third box car and baggage car; Andrews, both engineers and the fireman mounted the "General," and, the other nineteen raiders having concealed themselves in the empty box cars, the abbreviated train pulled out considerably ahead of schedule. As it got under way the noise attracted the attention of Fuller, Cain and Murphy, who jumped to the...

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