Snowbirds driving to Florida on Interstate-75, may not realize that in North Georgia, they are passing many Civil War battle sites. One of the most dramatic is the 67-mile Great Locomotive Chase when Union spies stole a Confederate steam engine, the General ... and were chased by its crew to recapture it. In 1956, Walt Disney released a movie featuring this epic chase which crosses the path of modern I-75 many times. Let’s slip back in time to Saturday, April 12, 1862 and experience this historic drama running north from Big Shanty (Kennesaw) to Ringgold, just south of the Tennessee line. It’s 6 a.m. on a cold, rainy day and the General’s conductor William Fuller and engineer Jeff Cain have stopped at Big Shanty for breakfast, after picking up supplies to take north to the Confederates besieged in Chattanooga. Their locomotive, a W&A 25-ton 4-4-0 “American” sits beside the platform idling while the crew enjoys their break. Soon they will be back aboard to head north, completely unaware that three men in the train’s passenger coach are intent on stealing the General and destroying track, wooden bridges and telegraph communications as they steam north, thereby damaging the vital Confederate supply link to besieged Chattanooga. Dressed in civvies, leader James Andrews is a non-military spy assisted by the other two who will “drive” the General. Hidden in an attached boxcar is an armed band of Yankee soldiers from Ohio – all will become known as “Andrews Raiders.” The time is now – Andrews and his companions nonchalantly leave their seats, mentioning to several passengers, “We’re off to find coffee.” In the east, dawn is breaking. Slowly, the men move along the shadowy left side of the train and quietly disconnect the passenger coach from the three boxcars attached to the General’s tender. The Great Locomotive Chase Today, the General is on display at the Locomotive Museum in Kennesaw. Photo: CCO Dave Hunter is the award-winning author of “Along Interstate-75” and “Along Florida’s Expressways” the quintessential guides for those driving to and in Florida. With his researcher wife Kathy, he enjoys travelling with history, gathering unusual and mysterious local stories. The Hunters winter in Lakeland, Florida. 20 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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