William Allen Fuller William Allen Fuller ( April 15 , 1836 – December 28 , 1905 ) was a conductor on the Western & Atlantic Railroad during the American Civil War era . He was most noted for his role in the 1862 Great Locomotive Chase , a daring sabotage mission and raid conducted by non - uniformed personnel of the Union Army in northern Georgia . Fuller ' s determined pursuit prevented the Union agents from driving a captured train north to Tennessee and the Union lines . Early life . Fuller was born at Morrow Station in rural Henry County , Georgia , to William Alexander Fuller . He was educated in local schools and married quite young . He began working for the Western & Atlantic Railroad on September 8 , 1855 , at the age of 19 . By the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 , Fuller served as a conductor on trains running from Atlanta . Great Locomotive Chase . On the morning of April 12 , 1862 , the locomotive " General " was stopped at Big Shanty ( now Kennesaw , Georgia ) so that the crew and passengers could have breakfast . While they were dining in the Lacey Hotel , Federal spy James J . Andrews and his party of Union volunteers commandeered the " General " , its tender , and a few boxcars and steamed northward . An astonished Fuller chased the stolen train by foot and then by handcar . At Etowah , Fuller commandeered another locomotive , the old " Yonah " , and took it north to Kingston , Georgia , keeping up the pressure on Andrews . The raiders began raising rails and cutting telegraph wires to delay their pursuers , although an attempt to burn a covered bridge failed . At Kingston , Fuller took command of the newer , faster " William R . Smith " and headed north to Adairsville . The tracks two miles ( 3 km ) south of Adairsville were broken by the raiders and Fuller had to run the two miles by foot . Once at Adairsville , the determined Fuller appropriated the southbound locomotive " Texas " and again chased the " General " , although the " Texas " was in reverse . Concurrently , Andrews ' Raiders were cutting the telegraph wires so no transmissions could go through to Chattanooga . With the " Texas " still chasing the " General " in reverse , the pair of trains sped through Dalton and Tunnel Hill , to the surprise of local residents and railroad workers . At milepost 116 . 3 ( north of Ringgold ) , Andrews ' Raiders abandoned the " General " and scattered from the locomotive just a few miles short of their destination of Chattanooga . Andrews and most of his raiders were soon captured and taken to Atlanta for trial . After they were found guilty of espionage and conspiracy , Andrews and several members of his party were executed by hanging . The Georgia State Assembly later noted that , " The conduct of Mr . Fuller , the Conductor , and of some others in the hazardous pursuit , while the spies were in possession of the train , deserves the highest commendation and entitles them to the consideration of the General Assembly . " Following his successful pursuit of Andrews ' Raiders , Fuller was commissioned by Governor Joseph E . Brown on August 3 , 1863 , for a six - month term as a captain in the Independent State Road Guards . His commission was renewed for another term in February 1864 . Fuller hired and trained militia to serve as guards on Georgia ' s railroads to prevent a recurrence of Andrews ' Raid . After the War . Following the Civil War , Fuller served as the Chief Marshal for the city of Atlanta from September to October 1865 . Fuller resigned from the W & ARR in January 1870 to take a position with the Macon & Western Railroad for two years . His first wife , Lulu ( Asher ) Fuller , died in 1872 . None of their four children had survived infancy . He remarried in 1874 ( to Susan C . Alford , who bore him five children ) . Fuller returned to work for the Western & Atlantic in 1876 . In his later years , he became a merchant in Atlanta . Fuller died in Atlanta and was buried in the city ' s Oakland Cemetery . His striking monument reads : “ On April 12 , 1862 , Captain Fuller pursued and after a race of 80 miles from Big Shanty Northward on the Western & Atlantic railroad , re - captured the historic war - engine General which had been seized by 22 Federal soldiers in disguise , thereby preventing the destruction of the bridges of the railroad and the consequent dismemberment of the Confederacy . ” In 1950 , the state of Georgia commissioned a special gold medal in honor of Fuller ' s work during the Great Locomotive Chase . It was presented to his son , William Alford Fuller , on May 15 .