The General (locomotive)

Western & Atlantic Railroad #3 General is a "American" type steam locomotive built in December 1855 by the Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor in Paterson, New Jersey for the Western & Atlantic Railroad, best known as the engine stolen by Union spies in the Great Locomotive Chase, an attempt to cripple the Confederate rail network during the American Civil War. Today, the locomotive is preserved at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Before the Civil War

Built in 1855 by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor in Paterson, New Jersey, The General provided freight and passenger service between Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, before the Civil War on the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia and later, the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company.

Civil War

During the Civil War on April 12, 1862, the General was commandeered by Northerners led by James J. Andrews at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw, Georgia), and abandoned north of Ringgold, after being pursued by William Allen Fuller and the Texas. Low on water and wood, the General eventually lost steam pressure and speed, and slowed to a halt two miles north of Ringgold, where Andrews and his raiders abandoned the locomotive and tried to flee.

In 1864, the Battle of Atlanta had forced the withdrawal of General John Bell Hood's forces from the city. Hood ordered the ordnance depot destroyed as he left Atlanta on September 1, 1864, including any and all engines being either destroyed or rendered unusable for the approaching Union forces To this end, the locomotives General, Missouri, Etowah, the Macon and Western Railroad N.C. Monroe, and Atlanta and West Point Railroad's E.Y. Hill were sent colliding into boxcars loaded with ammunition, which were then set on fire. The severely damaged locomotives were left undisturbed by the invading United States Military Railroad Service, as was typically done with the equipment of railroads they had captured, remaining as such for the remainder of the war, as evidenced by the USMRR records listing the General as "captured and returned."

Post-war service

After the war ended, the General was repaired and continued service on the Western and Atlantic. In the 1870s, the General was completely rebuilt, it had received a new pilot, boiler, and other components. Most notably, its three dome configuration was reduced to two domes, and its Radley-Hunter style balloon stack was replaced with a diamond stack, as the engine had been converted to burn coal. Indeed, the rebuilt engine had little resemblance to its original form.

Before the Civil War, most railways in the south, including the W&A, did not give their engines numbers. Rather, they were simply named, such as the General. When the railroad began numbering engines after the war, the General was the 39th engine to be acquired by the road, and was numbered accordingly. Locomotives came and went as years progressed, and by 1880, a renumbering was necessary. At this time, the General was given the number "3," being the third oldest engine that the railroad had at the time. The engine continues to carry this number today. the National Railroad Museum, the 1964 New York World's Fair, St. Louis Union Station, the National Museum of Transportation, and Barkley Dam.

City of Chattanooga Custody Dispute

thumb|General Monument near Ringgold, Georgia

In the mid-1960s, the state of Georgia began to express interest in reclaiming the engine. Indeed, many proposals about the General had arisen since the 1930s, while it was still on display at Chattanooga, including plans to have the General be displayed in Underground Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain, or at Stone Mountain Park, among others, some of which even included removing the Texas from the Cyclorama to be displayed with the engine. While much press coverage was given about these proposals, none of them had ever materialized. Even the city of Paterson, New Jersey, where the locomotive was built, expressed interest, since many engines had been built by Rogers and other firms in the city, but had none to display. Paterson eventually withdrew its proposal and sought other engines to display.

The state of Georgia's interest in the General soon raised tensions with the city of Chattanooga, where the General was displayed. In 1967, the city of Kennesaw, where the engine had been stolen in 1862, requested to have the engine attend a fundraiser held by the Big Shanty Historical Society. The General was on its way there, when it was stopped by a group led by Chattanooga's mayor, Ralph H. Kelley. He believed the engine belonged to the city, and a lawsuit had been filed against the L&N concerning custody of the engine.

On January 4, 1969, Judge Frank W. Wilson, U.S. District Judge in Chattanooga ruled that the engine belonged to the L&N, who could dispose of it as they desired. The city of Chattanooga appealed, and the case was referred to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District. The latter upheld Wilson's ruling, and the city appealed once more, sending the case to the Supreme Court of the United States. The city of Chattanooga's appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court on November 9, 1970, upholding and finalizing Wilson's ruling. and again in November 1971, when it was displayed in the city's Union Station alongside the road's newer diesel engine no. 1776.

Present day

After the L&N won the legal dispute concerning the engine's custody in 1970, they brought the engine to Atlanta via the former Atlanta, Knoxville and Northern Railway line from Knoxville through Etowah, to Marietta, bypassing Chattanooga. In February 1972, a ceremony was held in Atlanta where L&N president Kendall formally presented the General to then state governor (and later President of the United States) Jimmy Carter. Afterwards, the engine was moved to Kennesaw where a museum site was prepared. On April 12, 1972, the Big Shanty Museum (later known as the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History) opened, and the General has remained on display there since.

References

External links

About North Georgia: The General
The General on its way to the 1964 World's Fair (TrainsAreFun.com)
Official site of the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, the current home of The General.
HawkinsRails' General page