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Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase & |
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Subject: | History: U.S.: 19th Century | |
Grade Level: | Adults | |
Catalog # | HIST35258 | |
Regular Price: Your Price: You Save: | $29.95 $15.00 $14.95 (49.92%) | |
Author: |
Russell S Bonds |
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Binding: | Hardcover | |
Copyright Year: | 2006 | |
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Description: |
On April 12, 1862-one year to the day after Confederate guns
opened on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War-a tall,
mysterious smuggler and self-appointed Union spy named James J.
Andrews and nineteen infantry volunteers infiltrated north
Georgia and stole a steam engine called the General. Racing
northward at speeds approaching sixty miles an hour, cutting
telegraph lines and destroying track along the way, Andrews
planned to open East Tennessee to the Union army, cutting off men
and matériel from the Confederate forces in Virginia. If they
succeeded, Andrews and his raiders could change the course of the
war. But the General's young conductor, William A. Fuller, chased
the stolen train first on foot, then by handcar, and finally
aboard another engine, the Texas. He pursued the General until,
running out of wood and water, Andrews and his men abandoned the
doomed locomotive, ending the adventure that would soon be famous
as The Great Locomotive Chase. But the ordeal of the soldiers
involved was just beginning. In the days that followed, the
"engine thieves" were hunted down and captured. Eight were tried
and executed as spies, including Andrews. Eight others made a
daring escape to freedom, including two assisted by a network of
slaves and Union sympathizers. For their actions, before a
personal audience with President Abraham Lincoln, six of the
raiders became the first men in American history to be awarded
the Medal of Honor-the nation's highest decoration for
gallantry.
Condition description Note: This is a used book.
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