Daring and Suffering: A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid (Sixth Edition)
William Pittenger
"Daring and Suffering deserves to take its place with the most notable history of imprisonment and escape." —The New York Tribune
During the evening of April 7, 1862, twenty-four men infiltrated the Confederate lines below Shelbyville, Tennessee, and traveled by separate routes toward Atlanta. Their goal was to steal a train and head north for Chattanooga, disrupting rail service between the two cities by burning bridges, tearing up track, and cutting telegraph wires. If successful, they would isolate Chattanooga and facilitate its capture and further Union raids into Alabama.
The raid failed, and on June 18, 1862, seven of the raiders were hanged as spies in Atlanta. Four months later eight escaped from prison. The remaining six languished in a Southern prison until they were paroled in March 1863. Eight days later they were presented the first Medals of Honor. Among this group was Cpl. William Pittenger.
Shortly after the war, Pittenger composed an account of the raid, a book enlarged over subsequent editions and supplemented from various sources to become the most well-known and best-regarded account. A 1925 edition was given the more popular title The Great Locomotive Chase.
The story of the Andrews raid is fascinating because of the dogged persistence of one man — William Fuller, the conductor of the stolen train who relentlessly pursued the raiders. He chased them on foot, by handcar, and by locomotive, even running the engine in reverse at speeds up to ninety miles an hour.
Today the locomotive involved the chase, the General, has been restored and is on display at the Kennesaw Civil War Museum, not far from the spot where it was stolen by Andrews and his raiders. Daring and Suffering is a reproduction of the 1887 edition of Pittenger's account, duplicated exactly as it appeared at that time, with the exception of a brief introduction by Col. James C. Bogle.
| WILLIAM PITTENGER (1840-1904) was a corporal in the Second Ohio Infantry when he volunteered for the Andrews raid. He became a minister after the war, and he and his wife, Winnie, had six children and eventually settled in Fullbrook, California. |
$18.95, Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-58182-034-8 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58182-034-8 (Hardcover)
Hardcover Currently Available
