The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-11
PRATT CITY,
STORY OF THE ANDREWS RAID.

or object. They, however, voluntarily engaged in it, and made their way, in parties of two or three, in citizens dress, and carrying only their side arms. to Chattanooga, the point of rendezvous agreed upon where twenty-two out of the twenty-four arrived safely. Here, they took passage, without attracting ob- servation for Marietta, which they reach ed at twelve o'clock on the night of April Il. On the following morning they took the cars back again toward Chatta- nooga, and, at a place called Big Shanty, while the engineer and passengers were breakfasting, they detached the locomo- tive and three box cars from the tram and started at full speed for Chatta- nooga. They were now upon the field of the operations proposed by the eXpedi- tion, but suddenly encountered unforeseen obstacles. According to the schedule of the road, of which MT Andrews had pos sessed himself, they should have met but a single train on that day, whereas they met three, two of them being engaged on extraordinary service. About an hour was lost in waiting to allow these trains to pass, which enabled their pursuers to press closely upon them. They removed rails, threw out instructions on the road, and attained, when motion, a speed of sixty miles an hour; but the time lost could not be regained. After having run about one hundred miles they found their supply of wood, water and oil exhausted while the rebel locomotive which had been chasing them was in sight. Under these circumstances, they had no alterna- tive but to abandon their cars and fly to the woods, which they&did, under the orders of MT. Andrews, each one endeav- bring to save himself as best he might.
 "The expedition thus failed from causes which reflected neither upon the genius hxy urbt tnl, wac r,1a the and discretion of those en- gagged In executing it. But for the acct- dent of meeting these trains,-which could not have been anticipated.-the movement would have been a complete success, and the whole aspect of the war in the south and the southwest would have been at once changed. The expedi- tion itself, in the daring of it's concep- tion, had the wildness of romance; while in the gigantic and overwhelming results which it sought, and was likely to ac- complish, it was absolutely sublime.
 J. HOLT,
 -Advocat- General. To Hon. Edwin M. Stanton,
 Secretary of War.
 But few would care to characterize the expedition as above set forth as ''abso- lutely sublime" but all must admit that the scheme was a gigantic one, was en- tirely practical and came periiously near being successful. To understand this, we have but to glance at the military situ- ation as 1t existed at the time.
 The Battle of Shiloh.
 had just been fought, and though the confederates claimed a victory, General Beauregard was calling for reinforce ments in anticipation of second en- gagement. The effect of supplying them is best told In dispatch from General E. Kirby Smith, commanding the depart ment of East Tennessee, to Adjutant- General Cooper. under the date of April Il, 1862. .t.f
 'Vaughan's Third Tennessee Regiment at Kingston, Colemans North Carolina Battalion at Clint on, the Tortieth Georgia here CKnoxvile) the Forty-third Georgia at Chattanooga (unarmed) the small gar rison at Cumberland Gap, with the neces- sary guards at the railroad bridges, con- stitute the military force of the depart ment in consecuence of this call for re- Inducements to our army at Corinth."
 To the above it may be added that the garrison at Cumberland Gap referred to was confronted by federal force equally as large under General George w. MSaz gan, which rendered 1t lmpracticable to withdraw any part of the confederate troops from that point.
 Between Chattanooga and Atlanta there were a few scattered commands. mostly recruits in camps of instruction, and only partially armed. From this, it will be seen that the section of the confederacy