The idling General sits with steam hissing from its huge pistons. The men climb aboard the footplate and engineer William Knight casts an eye over the water sight glass and water injector gauges ... the steam gauge indicates 130 psi. “We’re ready to go,” Knight said. Andrews nodded his agreement. Fireman Alfred Wilson turns the horizontal hand-brake wheel and releases the brake while Knight moves the red regulator Donson bar forward several notches. He then pulls the horizontal throttle lever to start, releasing steam to power the engine. With loud chuffs of white steam billowing out from the pistons on each side, the connecting rods start to turn the huge steel wheels. Sounds of the track shifting underneath indicate the moving weight and soon, the General is rolling ahead. Railroad worker Anthony Murphy notices the motion and rushes into the station yelling, “Somebody’s running off with our train.” Fuller and his companion run outside to see the General slowly moving north in the distance. Fuller believes that his loco has been stolen by Confederate conscripts escaping from a nearby camp, who will shortly abandon it. The three men run after their train and notice that it is slowing – it’s running out of steam. Aboard the General, an alarmed Andrews shouts to Knight who opens the firebox door and sees reduced flame. “The boiler dampers are closed – the fire’s not getting enough air!” He grasps the damper wheel and winds it open. “We need forward motion to feed the firebox flame.” He turns to Wilson, “Get some oil-soaked wood into the box and build the fire ... quickly.” Steam pressure rises and the General starts to gather speed as it passes through Moon Station, just north of Big Shanty. Breathless, Fuller and companions arrive at Moon on foot and take the station’s pole-cart. They continue their pursuit by polling the cart northward at 7-8 mph. After passing through Acworth Station, the Raiders stop and cut trackside telegraph wires and damage a rail section; they stop and cut more wires just below Allatoona. As they cross the Etowah River bridge, Andrews sees the Yonah, a small work engine on the river’s north banks. Its steam is up and Andrews is concerned; he knows that if a pursuit message gets this far north, there’s now an operational locomotive and armed crew available to give chase. Andrews also needs a train schedule – the W&A is a single track and north-south traffic must bypass each other using station sidings – he needs to know when the use of sidings is scheduled. As the General pulls into Cass Station, he sees a railway worker and yells, “We’re carrying muchneeded gunpowder north to the Confederate Army. We need the day’s train schedule so we can mainline ahead.” The patriotic worker hands Andrews his only copy. Now Andrews knows where he can stay on the mainline and pass sidetracked southbound trains. The Raiders pull into Kingston Station, a W&A depot yard. Here, they must wait for a southbounder but when it arrives, they learn to their horror that there are two unscheduled southbounders on the same track section. The Raiders are forced to wait until the next section of track is clear. In the meantime, the station Engraving (1863) showing the General being stolen from Big Shanty Station The remains of the Etowah River Railroad Bridge CSANews | FALL 2024 | 21 Travel
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