Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-02-19
A DARING ATTEMPT.
ONE OF THE MOST DESPERATE ADvEN-
TURES ON THE WAR;

\ dispatch from Quincy, H., announ-
ces the death of Lieut.. Martini. Hawkins,
one of the daring men who, in the spring
attempted to destroy the bridges and tele-
graph lines of the Chattanooga and At
lantic road, between Big Shanty and
Chattanooga. The party, which was
placed under the leadership of j. j. An
drews, a citizen of Kentucky and Union
man, was to consist of nine men of the
Twcnty-first, eight of the Thirtv-third
and seven of the Second Ohio Regiments.
OF the - men % were at the rendezvous.
Two of the party were arrested early on
the expedition. and We're granted the
privilege of eniSting in the rebel army.
which they did. but finally succeeded in
deserving. The rest safely reached Mari
eta. Ca. and the greater number of them
passed the night at a small hotel. In the
arrangements for the awakening of the
men ON the following morning two. j. X.
Porter and NJ J. Hawkins. who had ar
rived earlier than the rest of the party
anu NDAd1ll'l l'Nl8ll0 1T NOllt Instance
from the depot were overlooked. and. not
being called in time for the morning
train, were left behind. Upon arriving
by rail at Big Shanty. Saturday morning.
April II, 1852. twenty minutes were al
lowed for refreshments. The conductor.
engineer. fireman and train hands gener-
ally, with many of the passengers. of
whom there were several hundred. left
the cars and hurried to the eating room.
leaving the engine mguarded. Each
man of the daring party took his appoint
ed place; three cars back from the tender
the coupling pin was drawn out and the
Union men ran the engine. box ears. etc.
from inside line of scntincls who
could be distinctly seen. W. \. Fuller.
the conductor, \. Murphy, manager of
the State railroad shops at Atlanta. and
j. Cain. engineer. followed the train on
foot. never dreaming any Federal soldiers
were within 100 miles of Bic Shantv.
and about two miles distant found the
telegraph wire cut. Near by some work
men with Il hand car were found and by
the aid of this car the train men again
took up the pursuit. once they were
thrown in ditch. the rail having been
torn up, but were uniniured. At EtoWahan
engine fired up was standing on the main
track and was pressed into service. OW-
inc to many unforeseen hindrancr- which
were encountered by the Union men, not
With>tanding the frequent ob>tructon> of
the track and the continued cutting of
the telegraph wires which the pur>uer-
met. the purSucr~ left Kingston. thirty
miles from Big Shanty. twenty minutes
behind the Fcdcral>. After tearing up
some rails and cutting telegraph wire, the
two trains came in sight. and with no
time for the pursued to burn bridg-
Is. a> intended. although some
cutting and blocking was done.
the terrible chase was continued
for mile after mile by station after sta
ton. The last card of the pursued was
to leave Il burning car ON the track. but
this obstacle was pushed aside To the
first side track and left to burn at il lci>-
ure. Another train had before this Joined
in the pursuit. kilograms sent by other
wires had warned the troops ahead. and
the Federal soldiers were awaited. When
/ but twelve or fifteen miles from Chatta-
nooga, when the engiue was in bad
state and water. fuel and oil were gone,
the train was abandoned and the party
scattered to do the hest they could to es-
cape to the Federal lines. They were
soon captured as also were j. Il. Porter
and NJ Hawkins. who were left behind
at Marietta. Eight. j. j. Andrews, Will
lam Campbell, George ID. Wilson, Marion
\. Ross, Perry q. Shadrack. Samuel
Seavens, Samuel Robinson and John
Scott, We're executed. and eight, W W.
Brown, William Knight. j. Il. Porter.
Mark Wood, j. \. Wilson. NJ. J. Hawkins,
John Walam and ID. \. Dorsey, escaped
from the prison in October. The escape
was managed from Atlanta Jail, Just after
supper. by overpoWering the taller. and
of the fourteen members of this party.
who We're concerned in it. six. Jacob Par
rott. Robert Butlum, William Bensinger
William Reddick. +. \. Mason and Will
lam Pittenger, were rccaptured, but were
exchanged in the following March. In
/ ISL Rev. William Pittenger. then resi-
dent of Woodbury., y. j.. wrote an ac-
count of the incidents connected with the
expedition. OF those of the above who
escaped or were exchanged he gives two
as then dead, four as living in Ohio, one
a. living in Minnesota, one in Arkansas
and one in Wisconsin. one, Lieut.. HaW-
kinS, whose death is just announced. As
living in Kansas and one in New Jersey.
The whereabouts of the other three adj
venturers he reported as unknown.
A wagon road and railroad track run
l.Nr- a.. fan