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Stealing the General The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor Russell S Bonds 9781594160332 Books

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Stealing the General The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor Russell S Bonds 9781594160332 Books

Stealing the General covers the story of the first Medal of Honor recipients as a team of soldiers under the command of Andrew Jones, a civilian spy, who undertook a covert mission behind Confederate lines.

The plan: Destroy the confederate rail lines (long before the march to the Sea) and telegraph wires. They would escape using a confederate train following the schedule under the idea that they were carrying emergency gunpowder for Confederate troops at Cornith.

The Operation: Dozens of soldiers successful sneaked down to Atlanta and selected the train to steal (the General) which was delayed due to heavy rain. The raiders successfully steal the engine and are off cutting cable wires. Little did they know the conductor of the stolen train pursues them on foot, hand car and eventually commandeers the Texas an engine of similar ability and begins a pursuit. The soldiers are delayed by traffic ahead and the pursuers nearly catch them on multiple occasions. Finally the pursuers are able to get a telegraph message to the Confederate forces in Chattanooga sending troops towards the General. The soldiers eventually abandoned the train and went on foot into the wilderness.

The Result: The war was brought home to the south and the soldiers spent the next couple of years in southern prisons. Many of them would be hung as traitors and spies while others would escape and make it back to the union or swapped in prison exchanges.

Russell Bonds tell the stories of these soldiers very well and keeps the pace moving going into quite a bit of detail. For those who want the real story this is the great way to go and covers all angles of the heist.


Tags : Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor [Russell S. Bonds] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div> Selected by Civil War Interactive as One of the Top Civil War Books of All Time <I>"The definitive book about the Great Locomotive Chase."</I>—Charlotte Observer <I>"Magnificent and definitive."</I>—Wall Street Journal "The Great Locomotive Chase has been the stuff of legend and the darling of Hollywood. Now we have a solid history of the Andrews Raid. Russell S. Bonds' stirring account makes clear why the raid failed and what happened to the raiders."</i>—James M. McPherson,Russell S. Bonds,Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor,Westholme Publishing,1594160333,Modern - 19th Century,USA,Chattanooga Railroad Expedition, 1862,Chattanooga Railroad Expedition, 1862.,General, The (Steam Locomotive),General, The (Steam Locomotive).,Georgia - History - Civil War, 1861-1865 - Secret service,Medal of Honor,Tennessee - History - Civil War, 1861-1865 - Secret service,United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865 - Secret service,United States;History;Civil War, 1861-1865;Secret service.,HISTORY United States Civil War Period (1850-1877),History,History - Military War,History Military United States,History Modern 19th Century,HistoryMilitary - United States,History: American,Military - United States,Railroads - History,TransportationRailroads - History,United States - Civil War

Stealing the General The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor Russell S Bonds 9781594160332 Books Reviews

When using this event as a subject for a graduate class project, I bought this book for research. Enjoyed it so much that I wrote to the author. Received a wonderful reply and he signed my book. Anytime you hear the phrase "Congressional Medal of Honor", please correct the speaker. Congress has nothing to do with this award. It is correctly titled the "Medal of Honor". The Union raiders who stole the General, were the first recipients of the Medal of Honor.
Excellent work by Bonds! This is a definitive treatment of a truly unique event during the American Civil War. Bonds seeks to separate fact from fiction and does so quite well by provided clear and concise descriptions of the various accounts and provides an excellent narrative of the events that lead up to and post-chase. Would highly recommend this book to anyone - but specifically those interested in the American Civil War.
The author is a Corporate Lawyer with Coca-Cola© ...but he can write and tells a great story!

In the closing chapters Russell makes a tentative claim that the General is "probably the world's most famous train". By the end of the book he firms up on his claim (p.437) on the "World's most famous locomotive". Unless his "world" is the same as the USA World Series (i.e. the contiguous 48) I think not. Stephenson's Rocket perhaps, or the Flying Scotsman or even the beautiful Southern Pacific engines but surely a major motive for his writing his marvelous book is to spread wider the knowledge of this wonderful train, the stolen General.
You won't find a more exciting book about the American Civil War then this one. The bravery and determination shown by the men on both sides during and after the chase is epic. On one hand you have James Andrews, who is determined to disrupt rail traffic in the south by stealing a train, and on the other side you have William Fuller, a southern conductor who is determined to get his train back.

This book not only explains the thrill of the chase but also describes how the captured northern men made escape attempts from their southern prison and how many of them eventually regained their freedom and returned home.

This is a must read book for anyone who loves non-fiction.
I knew nothing of the story before reading this book beyond knowing of a steam engine called the General. My knowledge of the Civil War is also quite light but that didn't take away from me following the story. The author painted a quick yet informative back story of the Civil War up to the point where this story unfolds. There is a lot of information in here but I never felt overwhelmed or bored by reading through all the details presented. Some authors present information like a college professor's lecture but not here. It was done with a pace that kept the story moving right along while not leaving out any small bit of the story. I haven't read any other books on the subject but I can't imagine any other providing anything better than "Stealing the General". Beyond the story of the General the history of the awarding of the first Medal of Honors makes this book a great 2 in 1 story!
I saw the Disney movie when I was young and then read the book .This book filled in all that was missing from both the movie and the other book . I was lucky to see the Texas in Atlanta and this sparked my interest in the story . I enjoy this book very much . Very fast reading .I would recommend this book to every body interested in Civil war history. As a side note I bought the movie to compare
The author has read all the prior books on this subject especially all of Pettinger's books. He has distilled them into one comprehensive book that explains the contradictions from sources and which are most likely correct. He has also dug up some details that I had not read before e.g. the size of the cell that the 21 Raiders were kept in was only 13x13 feet. He also followed the Raiders who escaped and what eventually happened to all of the raiders.

The Best book on the subject all in one place.
Stealing the General covers the story of the first Medal of Honor recipients as a team of soldiers under the command of Andrew Jones, a civilian spy, who undertook a covert mission behind Confederate lines.

The plan Destroy the confederate rail lines (long before the march to the Sea) and telegraph wires. They would escape using a confederate train following the schedule under the idea that they were carrying emergency gunpowder for Confederate troops at Cornith.

The Operation Dozens of soldiers successful sneaked down to Atlanta and selected the train to steal (the General) which was delayed due to heavy rain. The raiders successfully steal the engine and are off cutting cable wires. Little did they know the conductor of the stolen train pursues them on foot, hand car and eventually commandeers the Texas an engine of similar ability and begins a pursuit. The soldiers are delayed by traffic ahead and the pursuers nearly catch them on multiple occasions. Finally the pursuers are able to get a telegraph message to the Confederate forces in Chattanooga sending troops towards the General. The soldiers eventually abandoned the train and went on foot into the wilderness.

The Result The war was brought home to the south and the soldiers spent the next couple of years in southern prisons. Many of them would be hung as traitors and spies while others would escape and make it back to the union or swapped in prison exchanges.

Russell Bonds tell the stories of these soldiers very well and keeps the pace moving going into quite a bit of detail. For those who want the real story this is the great way to go and covers all angles of the heist.