The Second Battle for the General

The most famous story in Kennesaw’s history is undoubtedly the The chase took place in 1862 when Union spies, under the leadership of James J. Andrews, hijacked a locomotive named “The General” outside the l in Big Shanty (Kennesaw). The goal of the “Andrews Raid” was to disrupt the Confederate supply line between Georgia and Tennessee. The hijackers were pursued, the Union mission failed, and the General was returned to Georgia.

Many people are familiar with this story. It has been memorialized in books and on film. But what most people don’t know is that this was not the only time Georgia fought to retrieve the General.

The second battle for the General was a legal one, waged in court between the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the City of Chattanooga to determine the historic engine’s rightful owner.

, Dean of Enrollment Services at , is the leading authority on the second battle for the General. Head, the author of "The Great Locomotive Dispute," delivered a lecture on the subject last Saturday, co-hosted by the and the Kennesaw Historical Society.

Head is a soft-spoken man, but animated and enthusiastic when he talks about the General. At the lecture, he fielded questions and invited input from other history buffs.

After the Civil War, the General remained in service until 1891. The following year, a photographer named E. Warren Clark discovered the General, damaged and neglected, at a railway siding in Vinings. Stunned to find the famous warhorse seemingly cast off, he approached railroad president John W. Thomas about restoring the General for public display. Thomas agreed.

The years that followed were filled with what Head calls “Southern Patriotism.” The General, beautifully restored and refitted, made regular appearances over the next 78 years, steaming into railroad towns to the fanfare of marching bands and the waving of Confederate flags.

The most auspicious of these appearances was on April 12, 1962 – the 100th anniversary of the Great Locomotive Chase. The General, which had been housed since its restoration at Ross’s Landing in Chattanooga, revisited the stops along the line between Atlanta and Tennessee. At each appearance, enthusiastic Georgians began asking why the General wasn’t housed in her home state.

Some of these Georgians were influential. In 1967, the L&N Railroad, which had purchased the Western and Atlantic, had the General taken from Ross’s Landing en route to be displayed at a fundraiser in Kennesaw. Tipped off by a newspaper reporter, Chattanooga mayor Ralph H. Kelly sent an airplane to locate the General along the line. Believing that the L&N had no intention of returning the General, Mayor Kelly had the road blocked and the engine intercepted.

Thus began a three year court battle over who had rights to the legendary machine, eventually leading to the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally ruled in favor of Georgia and the L&N.

The key to Georgia’s victory, says Head, lay in the history of Georgia and the construction of the Western and Atlantic line.

In the 1830s, when the South’s railroad system was being built, a line was established running through Alabama and Tennessee up through the Carolinas and Virginia. The W&A, seeking to connect Georgia with this line, constructed its own railroad from Atlanta northward toward Chattanooga.

The problem lay in the fact that, upon reaching Georgia’s border with Tennessee, the W&A had 20 more miles to cover before it could connect with Chattanooga.

As a solution, Georgia offered to pay for construction of the rest of the line – an offer that was financially advantageous to Tennessee. In exchange for this, Georgia and the W&A asked for right-of-way along the 20 miles into Tennessee as well as 12 acres of land at Ross’s Landing.

Tennessee agreed.

In 1970, before the United States Supreme Court, attorneys for Chattanooga made their claim to the General based on the fact that, for nearly 80 years, she had been kept and maintained at Ross’s Landing in the City of Chattanooga and the State of Tennessee.

Countering their argument, Georgia produced a legislative act dated January 24, 1838, in which Tennessee had granted Georgia a 20-mile right-of-way and 12 acres of land. Legally, the General had always been on Georgia property, even while housed in Tennessee.

One hundred and ten years to the day since being  stolen at Big Shanty by Union saboteurs, the General returned home to Kennesaw. In another act of “Southern patriotism,” the Frey family donated an old gin, along with its land, to be converted into a museum housing the famed locomotive. The deed stipulates that, should the General ever be taken from the property, ownership of the land will revert to the Frey family.

The General is housed at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. Visitors to the museum routinely give an audible gasp when they pass through the faux tunnel into the General’s presence.

The museum also houses a splendid display of artifacts from the Glover Machine Works and other items from the history of Kennesaw and the Civil War. Lectures like the one by Dr. Head are monthly occurrences. Guided tours and activities for children are also available.

To learn more about local history and upcoming educational events, please visit The Southern Museum's website, as well as the Kennesaw Historical Society's website.

To learn more about the second battle for the General, read "The Great Locomotive Dispute" by Joe F. Head.