The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1912-04-17
MADE DARING RAID
SEIZED A TRAIN, WERE HOTLY
PURSUED and CAUGHT
A FAMOUS WAR EPISODE

IA FAMOUS WAR EPISUDE
Had the Famous Raid Of Andrews
and His Picked Men Succeeded
the Source of Supplies OF the Con-
federate Army Would Have Been
Cut Off and Ruined.
Fifty years ago occurred the dar-
ling Andrews raid, the thrilling pur-
suit and capture Of the federal
spies, who had stolen the engine
General - by a gallant party party
of railroad men and citizens in the
little Texas" 1t is one of the most
famous passages of civil war history
and unique in the history Of modern
warfare. It was crucial move
ment, and if it had succeeded the
confederacy would not have lasted
so long as it did.
| James J. Andrews, a spy and con-
traband merchant in the service Of
the Federal General O. ". Mitchell, is
thought to have been the originator
Of the scheme to capture Chatta-
nooga, and his name has been used
to designate the unsuccessful RAID
which ended with his executions.
Mitchell had been left in centre Of
, middle Tennessee when General
Buell. moved westward to join Grant
at Shiloh, and Immediately started
an energetic campaign to subdue his
territory.
Chattanooga was an important
point still held by the Confederate
forces, and it's capture would have
, meant disaster to their cause. An
drews had accurate knowledge of the
, surrounding territory, and he con-
ceived the scheme of crippling the
, city by cutting off all sources of sup
plies, then attacking vigorously and
investing before reinforcements
could be had.
4 He planned to take a small body
? of picked men into Georgia, and at
some point on the Western and At
lantic railroad owned by the state,
to seize an engine, run it toward
Chattanooga, burning the bridges as
he went. At the same time, General
: Mitchell would take Huntsville, Ala,
secure a. Memphis and Charleston
railroad train and proceed to, Chat
t tanooga, which could easily be cap
;, tured, as all roads by which aid
might have been secured would then
: have been in the hands Of the enemy.
!, It was brilliant scheme, one
which the energy and emergency OF
2 the time gave rise to with men VINO
r dared undertake the execution. The
q date set was April II. 1852, when
+ the simultaneous advance was to be
/. made and the entire south crippled at
4 one decisive blow.
@ With a party Of twenty-five men
Andrews started for Marietta, Ca,
where they were to board the train.
h Heavy rains and storm so impeded
their travel that it was impossible
. for them to make the early train
: which left Atlanta at four o'clock ev-
a cry morning. Reasoning that the
, same delay would meet Mitchell
: Mitchel's forces, they decided to
O postpone the execution Of the plan
until the next day, April IL.
v Their presence on the train, dress
:. ed as they were in citizens clothes,
: excited no suspicion, and when Big
Shanty was reiched, seven miles
above Marietta, the passengers sat
down to breakfast little dreaming
what was about to be done. An
= drews and his men. twenty in num-
Der, as two of them had gotten left,
- working quickly, soon detached the
engine General and three freight
cars from the rest Of the train put
on full speed and set of toward
= Tennessee.
Started in Pursuit. on Foot.
AS soon as their departure was
discovered Conductor William A.
Fuller, well known in Atlanta, start
ed off on foot to catch them, un-
daunted by the danger which threat
c ened. He was accompanied by An
thony Murphy, foreman of motive
power of the road, and JEFF Cain en-
+ gineer
o At Moons station, some miles
o away, they secured platform hand
+ car, were reinforced by two section
i. hands and two ecitizens from Ac-
= worth, and continued their pursuit.
q Near the Etowah bridge they found
the engine "Yonah," which they
: commandeered and at full speed were
soon careening madl yafter Andrews.
q At Kingston the raiders had found
; their traffic impeded by freights. Ex-
= planning that they were a powder
o train, racing to Beauregard, they
o soon got throught. When the "Yon-
Y ah" came up they had been gone
some minutes, and the way was again
6 blocked.
Conductor Fuller was not to be
, baked. With the same determina-
ton which set him out afoot in pur-
suit of a railroad engine in the con-
! troll Of twenty armed men he press
ed into service a Rome road engine,
+ the William r. Smith, with Oliver
, Wiley Harbin as engineer, and kept
on Five miles away they were fore
ed to quit, the raiders having torn up