The Youngest Raider

Union Private Jacob Wilson Parrott, a member of Andrews’ Raiders, was exchanged along with other members of the Raiders on March 17^th 1863 for Confederate soldiers at Camp Point, Virginia.

Jacob Wilson Parrott was born July 17^th 1843 in Fairfield County, Ohio, the son of George and Anna (Landfair) Parrett Jr.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Parrott joined the 90 day 20^th Ohio Infantry.  When the term of service was up he went home to Kenton, Ohio where he enlisted in Company K of the 33^rd Ohio Infantry.  His first combat was November 8^th 1861 during the Battle of Ivy Mountain.

In April 1862 when James J Andrews was looking for volunteers to take part in his raid, Parrott joined with 21 other men, becoming known as Andrews’ Raiders.  The Raiders slipped 200 miles south behind Confederate lines and hijacked the train “The General”.  Parrott was among the men who were captured during the raid.  While being held as a prisoner he was beaten numerous times in an attempt to get him to talk.  Parrott even escaped once with fourteen others, but was recaptured.  He was part of a prisoner exchanged March 17^th 1863.

After the exchange Parrott was taken to Washington, DC where he met with President Abraham Lincoln.  Parrott, the youngest surviving member of Andrews’ Raiders, was the first man to receive the Medal of Honor.  He would serve out the rest of the war ending as a First Lieutenant.

When the war ended Parrott returned to his home in Ohio.  He ran a stone quarry and worked as a cabinet maker.  While walking home on December 22^nd 1908, he had a heart attack and died.  Parrott is buried in the Grove Cemetery in Kenton, Ohio.

Parrott’s Medal of Honor citation reads: One of the 19 of 22 men (including 2 civilians) who, by direction of Gen. Mitchell (or Buell) penetrated nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Ga., in an attempt to destroy the bridges and tracks between Chattanooga and Atlanta.

A Civilian For The Union

An Ohio civilian, William Hunter Campbell was hung June 18^th 1862 for his action in what has become known as the Great Locomotive Chase.

William Hunter Campbell was born September 9^th 1839 in Fox, Carroll, Ohio the son of Samuel and Sarah (Hunter) Campbell.  He was described at the time of the Civil War as “a man of two hundred twenty pound, handsome as Apollo, and of immense physical strength, which he was slow to use when roused, though good-natured and clever.”

Campbell was in Kentucky in 1862 visiting friends in the 2^nd Ohio, when he was recruited to steal a train from Confederate territory and bring it through Union lines.  The man who recruited him was James J Andrews, who was also a civilian.  Andrews also brought in 22 soldiers from the 2^nd, 21^st and 33^rd Ohio.  All the men went south, wearing civilian clothing and met up in Marietta, Georgia.  They all got on a train pulled by the locomotive called The General, except two on April 12^th 1862.  When the train stopped in Big Shanty, Georgia, Andrews, Campbell and the other Ohio men stole the train.  The train was chased as it moved north in what has been called the “Great Locomotive Chase”.  When the train ran out of fuel near Chattanooga, Tennessee the raiders were captured.

Campbell being a civilian was placed on trial and was convicted as a spy.  He was taken; along with six of other men, to the corner of Fair ST and South Park Ave in Atlanta, Georgia on June 18^th 1862 and hung.  Campbell’s execution didn’t go quite right, it was described that “two of the seven, Campbell and Slavens, being very heavy men, broke the ropes, and fell to the ground insensible. In a short time they recovered, and asked for a drink of water, which was given them. Then they requested an hour to pray before entering the future world, which lay so near and dark before them. This last petition was indignantly refused, and as soon as the ropes could be adjusted, they were compelled to re-ascend the scaffold, and were again turned off!"  Campbell was buried first near where he was hung, but was moved April 25^th 1866 to the Chattanooga National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Hamilton, Tennessee and reinterred near the Ohio Memorial.

A Train Chase

The Great Locomotive Chase occurred April 12^th 1862 in Georgia.

The Union civilian scout and spy James J Andrews proposed isolating the city of Atlanta, Georgia by destroying the Western and Atlantic Railroad.  Twenty-two men from the Union regiments of the 2^nd, 21^st and 33^rd Ohio along with one other civilian, William Hunter Campbell arrived for the raid in Marietta, Georgia before midnight April 10^th 1862.  There were some delays due to heavy rains and two of the men didn’t make it, but joined the Confederate Army.

The train the “General”, going north, stopped the morning of April 12^th 1862 in Kennesaw, Georgia so the crew could have breakfast.  This stop gave Andrews and his raiders the chance to steal the locomotive.  The plan was to take the train north towards Chattanooga and meet up with the Union Army.  The “General’s” conductor William Allen Fuller chased the train on a handcar.  He found another locomotive at Etowah, Georgia, continuing to chasing Andrews and his raiders to Adairsville.  At this point the raiders had torn up the tracks and Fuller continued the chase on foot.

Fuller’s next train was the “Texas” which he ran backwards, still chasing the “General”.  Fuller was joined by Confederate troops at Calhoun, Georgia.  The raiders continued north cutting telegraph lines, but they were unable to set the bridge at Tunnel Hill on fire.  Just north of Ringgold, Georgia and only eighteen miles from Chattanooga the “General” ran out of fuel.  Andrews and his men left the train and dispersed.

Within two weeks of taking the train Andrews and all of his men were captured.  They were placed on trial as unlawful combatants and spies.  Andrews and seven of his raiders were found guilty and hung.  Eight of the remaining men escaped from prison and made it back to Union lines, the remaining men were exchanged as prisoners of war on March 17^th 1863.

A good web site if you would like to read more is The story of Andrew's Raiders

He Ordered The Great Train Chase

Union Major General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel who ordered the Great Locomotive Chase died October 30^th 1862.

Ormsby McKnight Mitchel was born August 28^th 1809-10 in Union County, Kentucky.  He grew up in Lebanon, Ohio where he worked as a clerk until receiving an appointment to West Point in 1825.  Mitchel graduated 15^th out of 46 in 1829.  He stayed on at West Point for three years where he taught mathematics.  Mitchel passed the bar and became an attorney, before returning to teaching mathematics and natural philosophy at Cincinnati College.  In 1845 Mitchel was appointed director of the observatory at the College, which had the second largest refracting telescope in the world.  In 1859 he moved on the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, as their superintendent.

When the Civil War started Mitchel joined the Union army as a Brigadier General.  He commanded the Union Department of the Ohio from September to November 1861.  During this time Mitchel worked with James J Andrew to steal a train in Georgia to disrupt Confederate railroads, at the time Mitchel planned an attack on Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Although the plan failed and Andrew was captured and hanged the raid become known as “The Great Locomotive Chase”.  Mitchel led a division in the Army of the Ohio until July 1862.  He seized the city of Huntsville, Alabama without a shot being fired in April 1862.  He received a promotion to Major General for this.  Mitchel was place in command of Tenth Corps and the Department of the South at Hilton Head, South Carolina in September 1862.  He died in Beaufort, South Carolina of Yellow Fever October 30^th 1862, and is buried in the Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

The Great Train Race

James J Andrews and six of his Raiders were hung on May 8th 1862 after leading the Great Locomotive Race on the Western and Atlantic Railroad.

The train “The General” was stopped at Big Shanty, Georgia [now known as Kennesaw GA], when civilian James J Andrew and a group of Union spies boarded the train and headed off towards Chattanooga. Andrews was working with General Don Carlos Buell, on this mission. The Raiders left Ohio on April 7th 1862, disguised as civilians, they headed 200 miles south. The plan behind the heist of this train was to destroy Confederate supply lines, rail, and telegraph along the route between Atlanta and Chattanooga. “The General” was pursued by conductor William Allen Fuller on foot for the first couple of miles, before he got hold of a handcar and several trains, as he continued after the stolen “General”. Eighty-seven miles into the chase, the locomotive was low on water and wood, and lost steam, coming to halt just north of Ringold GA. The raiders left “The General” attempting to escape, but they didn’t get far.

James Andrews and six of the raiders were convicted as spies and hung on May 8th 1862. Eight of the raiders were made prisoners of war and were exchanged latter in the war. All of the Raiders except Andrews were given the Medal of Honor; as a civilian he wasn’t eligible. Andrews is buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Chattanooga Tennessee.

Other interesting reading
The Great Locomotive Chase The story of Andrew's Raiders

Daring and Suffering: A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid