13. The Civil War’s Most Dramatic Special Operation
In early 1862, Union forces in Tennessee were worried about the possibility of Confederate forces rapidly arriving at Chattanooga from Atlanta via the Western & Atlantic Railroad (W&R). So James J. Andrews, a Union civilian scout, proposed a raid to sever that rail connection by seizing a locomotive in Georgia, then traveling north, destroying two connecting railway lines and their vital bridges. The idea was approved, and resulted in the Civil War’s greatest special operation.
In April of 1862, Andrews recruited Union Army volunteers for his raid. Slipping through Confederate lines in civilian clothes, the men rendezvoused in Marietta, Georgia, where they boarded a train on April 11th. When the train reached a small stop called “Big Shanty”, selected by Andrews because it had no telegraph the Confederates could use to send out an alarm, the raiders sprang into action.