I finished "Stealing the General" last night; a new book offering I picked up at Borders. For those of you interested in the locomotives "General" and "Texas", I'd recommend the book. The story is very well researched and documented, with claims and counter-claims well represented. The lives of the raiders and the rebels who chased them, are very well explained, along with clear information regarding their roles in the theft, recovery, and aftermath of the engagement. Incidentally, the Disney "Great Locomotive Chase" is entertainment, but NOT history! My one criticism would be that while illustrated with period pictures, no photos of the "Texas" and "General", as they appear today, are included. The legal argument concerning "General's" final disposition is discussed, but not at tiresome length. By the way, "Texas" as it appears today, is more in keeping with her appearence at the time of the raid, and "General", is not only less so due to restoration, but not even in her paint scheme of the period. The author claims "General" may be the most famous steam locomotive in the world, a claim I'd take with which I'd take issue. That both locomotives remain in preservation today is nothing short of miraculous, particularly "Texas".
The book is called "Stealing the 'General'", by Russell S. Bonds.

There are some things on the web that are also worth looking at:

http://ngeorgia.com/history/raiders.html
http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/locochase.htm
http://www.andrewsraid.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew's_Raid
http://www.civilwarhome.com/locomotivechase.htm
http://www.notatlanta.org/eventcal/293
http://ngeorgia.com/history/raidersnames.html
http://www.locomotivegeneral.com/locomotivechase.html
http://www.greatlocomotivechase.com/homeauthor.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~robertcjones/khs/khs.htm
http://www.mindspring.com/~robertcjones ... aw20th.htm

Lots of links to links to links, but interesting.

From the Disney filming:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JEFF-HUNTER-8X10-2- ... dZViewItem

Well I can believe it would be one of the most famous. Disregarding our little blue friend Thomas, who probably ranks as best known these days, which engine would you say was best known?

The Flying Scotsman quickly comes to mind due to her international exposure, as does the Tom Thumb and the Best Friend of Charleston.

While quite widely known, I don't think that engines like SP 4449 would be it, since they're not as well known outside of railfan circles.

Keep in mind that many a history book has the tale of Andrew's Raiders in it, and the Tom Thumb horse race etc, exposing far more than railfans to those historic locos. Railfan or not, most grade school kids have read about the General in their history books.

Not to mention that just about every Civil War buff and/or reenactor knows about the "Andrews Raid" and the "General". (and there are a lot more "Civil War" people than "train" people out there)

NYC 999, "Mallard", "Flying Scotsman" all race to the forefront of my mind, and the aforementioned "Thomas", of course.

It is a great history - I could swear I reviewed it for RyPN before the management change. Taught me a lot I didn't know about the raid.

dave

William Knight, the raider that was the engineer of the General, was a cousin of my great grandfather. Family history says that after the war he travled around and presented the story of the raid. I assume in theaters, at fairs, etc. Family history doesn't specify. Anyway, he had scenes of the major parts of the story painted on oilcloth. He would unroll these and display them when telling the tale. I don't know what ever happed to those oilcloths, but I sure wish I had them. He made a decent living at this and lived a long life. He is buried in his hometown in Ohio.

I think we'd all be interested in seeing those oilcloths (if they ever turned up), which may have been a sort of mini-version of the Cyclorama paintings that ended up at Gettysburg and Atlanta. The ones at Gettysburg, at least, were exhibited at various transient locations before gaining a permanent home,and suffered much damage along the way, being under repair at this time and not on display. The post-raid story of William Knight would be interesting as well.

I would like to know whatever happened to them and more of his life after he was musterd out of the service. Unfortunately, not much more is known and that branch of the family dwindled after my grandfather's generation from what I can tell.

You need to read the book. Knight is a featured character.

Richard, Bill and others:

I hope you'll forgive the intrusion--I'm Russ Bonds, the author of the aforementioned Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor. I wanted to jump in to answer the question about the panoramic paintings that William Knight used in his post-war lecture tour. The original paintings are now housed at the Ohio Historical Society, are in great condition, and best of all can be viewed online at the "OhioPix" website. Go to this link:

http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exh ... /index.cfm

. . . and in the Search box, type in "Knight panorama"--17 individual paintings should pop up. You can view each one in turn. My publisher and I thought about using some of these for illustrations or cover art for my book, but decided to stick with period photographs instead. (The paintings are excellent--I particularly like the one of the theft of the General at Big Shanty and the cutaway view of the raiders in the Chattanooga jail--but they are far from accurate in many respects.)

Thanks for your interest and for the kind words about my humble book. I hope others will give it a try.

With best regards,
Russell Bonds
Atlanta, Georgia
www.stealingthegeneral.com

Intrusions are always welcome when they add knowledge. Great to know the pictures survived. As I stated before, my side of the family lost track of his line over the generations after my grandfather.

Thnaks for the info.
Definitely will get the book.
Bill H

Russ: A really well done book with some top drawer research. I particularly want to point out the level manner in which all characters are viewed. There are no "saints" in the story, and no characterization of one side holding a higher set of values. Certainly the jail settings are among the worst scenes ever concocted during the Civil War.
I have visited both locomotives and found "Texas" to appear most as she did in 1862.
As you point out in the conclusion, had the mission worked, it might have brought a swifter conclusion to the fighting. As it was, the drama dragged out at a deadly price for three more long years.
It's wonderful to have you join us in this group.

Hi Russel,

I also finished your book recently. Great job! ( I found it at the B&O Railroad museum in Baltimore, on the day when the 1856 steam locomotive William Mason was running. )

I lived in Kennesaw for 3 years (age 4-7, 1981-84). The General was on the way to church, and I'm told that I stopped there so many times, they started letting me in for free. I don't recall that part, but the General was and is still one of my favorite locomotives. A lot of my fractured partial memories about the area were supplimented by the descriptions in the book.

Cheers,

Mark Oles