As one of the historians mentioned today...IF the Raiders realized they were being pursued by men with what may have been a couple of unloaded shotguns, they could have easily blocked the Texas and ended the chase. They didn't; and the "rest is history"! Besides the pursuit itself, those Southerners taunted the Union soldiers (and civilian Andrews) by constantly blowing their locomotive whistle which served to scramble the Raiders almost every time they attempted to wreck havoc. Without Fuller, many dare say that the war would have ended, not differently, just sooner.
Presentations continue at TVRM (Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum) on Sunday including walking tours along the original East Tennessee & Georgia Rail Road right-of-way from Grand Junction Station to Chickamauga Creek (with a view of the pre-Civil War bridge piers), including mention that Andrews specifically targeted the ET&G bridge along with the W&A bridge as they were only a short distance apart. What about the fact that the Raid was the second attempt to sabotage the W&A? (The first was abandoned before it started.) And, as mentioned, the two things that really doomed "The Great Railroad Chase" for Andrews were (1) several days of soaking rain, and (2) a very determined Conductor Fuller who, obviously, was not happy about his train departing Big Shanty WITHOUT HIM!
http://www.tvrail.com/pages/andrews-raid-150th
BTW: The same historian quoted above also swears that Andrews and crew did NOT steal the General. Why? It never left the W&A property!
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