Download Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor AudioBook Free
On Apr 12, 1862-one season to the day after Confederate guns opened on Fort Sumter and began the Civil War-a high, inexplicable smuggler and self-appointed Union spy known as Wayne J. Andrews and 19 infantry volunteers infiltrated Georgia and stole a vapor engine called the Basic. Racing northward at speeds near 60 kilometers an hour, trimming telegraph lines, and destroying monitor along the way, Andrews organized to start East Tennessee to the Union army, trimming off men and materiel from the Confederate makes in Virginia. If they succeeded, Andrews and his raiders could change the span of the war. But the General's young conductor, William A. Fuller, chased the stolen coach - first by walking, then by handcar, and lastly aboard another engine, the Tx. He pursued the Basic until, running out of lumber and normal water, Andrews and his men forgotten the doomed locomotive, finishing the adventure that would soon be famous as "THE FANTASTIC Locomotive Chase." But the ordeal of the troops involved was just beginning. In the times that implemented, the raiders were hunted down and captured. Eight were tried and carried out as spies, including Andrews. Eight others made a daring break free, including two helped by a network of slaves and Union sympathizers. For his or her actions, before a personal audience with President Abraham Lincoln, six of the raiders became the first men in American record to be awarded the Medal of Honor-the nation's highest beautification for gallantry. Us citizens North and South, both at the time and since, have been astounded and fascinated by this daring raid. But as yet, there's not been a complete history of the whole occurrence and the fates of all those involved. Predicated on eyewitness accounts, as well as correspondence, diaries, military records, newspaper reviews, deposition testimony, and other primary resources, Stealing the Basic is a mixture of meticulous research and powerful narrative that is destined to be the definitive record of "the boldest trip of the war".
