Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-08-16
LITTLE STORIES OF BRAVERY
One Of the Most Hazardous Enterprises
Of the Civil War.

| win the army OF East Tennessee In
the spring Of 1862 was a clever spy named
Andrews. He went everywhere in the
! Confederate camps, disguised as a duaclS
! medicine man. He was a talker and the
soldiers talked to him, and he seldom re-
| turned without an interesting budget of
news The present enterprise was the
| conception of Andrews The spv know
| ing that his commanders wished to take
| possession of the city of Chattanooga.
| which had become a point Of strategic
Importance, and that the only insur
| mountable obstacle was the railroad from
Chattanooga to the South. by means of
| which the Confederates could M anv tine
succeed In blocking the movement with a
section Of their army, laid before Gen.
Mitchell remarkable plan II was as
simple as IL was bold.
He proposed to take twenty-four men
more than 200 miles into the Confederacy.
Win them to capture a train, and to
| travel back over the line of rail. des-
troylng all the important bridges between
the hostile armies. To accomplish 20
great result It seemed reasonable TO
risk the lives Of only twenty-four men:
therefore, the General finally gave his
| consent. MS
Andrews never doubted that his scheme
would be successful. Telling his men 10
meet him in three days in Marietta
Georgia, whittier they we're to tourney
singly, disguised as countrymen. and TO
say that they were on their way to ioin
the army the spy disappeared and was
! not seen again until the day set Then
| all but five met him at the hotel Of the
| Georgia town. In spite of the fact. how
| ever, that they had succeeded in reach
Ing the rendezvous. they were in no
cheerful frame Of mind. At every stage
| Of the journey they had encountered soil
dlers' and nothing but soldiers. in the
! trains. guarding the station platforms. or
! encamped close by And the majority
now thought that the thing they were
Undertaking was impossible
Andrews said: "If anyone wants to
withdraw, he is free to do so. For my
! part say we can succeed, and will do
! IL or die"
Starting on Their Mission.
1t was a morning Of unusual gloom
! In silence the men stared at the rainy
/ windows. After momentarv nause
| there being no reply to his words. the
leader completed his instructions. and all
| lett Tor the train. which pulled out OF
/ the city a few minutes later in the di-
! recuon Of Kenesaw mountain.
Al the foot OF the mountain was Big
| Shanty. now kenesaw station Tho train
| would delay there some minutes for
! breakfast They rapidly neared this sta
| Ton. There were the white tents Of an
| encampment, the soldiers moving about
the sentinel with his musket walking the
platform. The cars jolted together. then
| stopped. and the passengers went into
! the restaurant followed by the conduc-
| tor, and luckily by the engineer also
Then, in sight Of all not n dozen
/ teet from the sentry on the plat
/ form, Andrews and his men swift
| ~ executed their design. Three who
sprang with the leader into the cab Of tho
! locomotive; others uncoupled the rear
section OF the rainleaving three emptv
baggage cars attached to the engine. and
/ leaped into one Of the cars. closing the
door behind them. Andrews swung ont
from his place on the step of the engine.
and looked to see If all was ready. Al
the same moment one Of the soldiers
| seemed to comprehend that something
unusual was taking place. and he called
out questioningly. Quickly he was
| answered. The drivers Of the locomotive
spun furiously for a second and then
/ the light train abruptly forged ahead
and soon left the station far behind
CHANGING back, the men on the engine
saw the commotion they had caused
from which emerged two figures tearing
over the track, bent almost double as II
win the etort to catch them by sheer
running.
Wen give them rum" they thought
with eXultant 10y
Now for the Chickamauga and COSTA
naula bridges According to the schedule
IN the possession OF Andrews, there was
a freight TO be met and passed at a point
thirty miles up the line. After this was
accomplished they could crowd on steam
and stun the fire box: but for the
present II was necessary only 70 keen
on the schedule Of the captured train
Once they stopped to cut the telegram
wires and again to pull up a section Of
the rails behind them. It was all very
strange and very pleasant. They felt
now that they were destined TO succeed.
AS the train glided on at a steady pace
past station and settlement in the very
centre OF the Confederacy, they felt like
bursting into laughter or Jeering at the
soldiers they saw.
Why are you running wid?" The
tank tender asked the question as they
stopped for water
Powder for Beauregard"
An Awkward Situation.
At Kingston they moved to the side
track and waited patiently. The freight
passed; but it was followed by a passen-
ger train.
Andrews instantly went into a fit Of
rage, both pretended and real. Why"
he stormed, lis the road not clear? 1
have orders to rush this powder to Cen
eral Beauregard."
Just then the last car Of the train went
by; and hanging from the rear platform
was red flag, which showed that an ex-
ira train was following. This was too
much! The agent explained that there
was connection all along the line that
day. Mitchell was moving his forces on
Chattanooga. The Confederates were
getting everything out OF there, and the
road was tangled up with heavy trains.
Half an hour, three quarters, n whole
hour, passed before the track was clear.
with hearts filled with mingled hope and
despair. the raiders resumed their jour
ney. a feeling of passionate anxiety for
the success of the plan filled them with
powerful excitement which made the
fastest speed the locomotive was capable
of seem miserably slow.
They threw on the fire dry boards from
the inside of the cars. While they were
doing this, they saw at the end of a long
stretch of track an engine in pursuit. A
thousand times during that hour at
Kingston, Andrews had tried to conjec-
ture what the Rebels at Big Shanty were
doing. As a matter of fact, the two men
whom they saw running after the stolen
train never stopped until they came
across hand car; followed them on this;
were wrecked and thrown into the ditch
by the break in the rails; but neverthe-
less kept on until they secured the en-
CINE of the last train out of Kingston.
with forty men, this engine with it's one
car was now scarcely a mile behind.
1t drew nearer and nearer until the
men could see the soldiers muskets stick
ing out of the tender-it fairly bristled