|
|
Photo Courtesy of HomeOfHeroes.com |
|
ADVERTISEMENT |
|
In April 1862 General Mitchell and General Buell tasked 22 volunteers (including 2 civilians) under the leadership of James Andrews, with a daring raid. The men, later known as "Andrews' Raiders" penetrated 200 miles into enemy territory to capture a railroad train at Big Shanty, Georgia. Their mission was to destroy vital railroad lines and bridges between Chattanooga and Atlanta to disrupt movement of Confederate soldiers and supplies. Only partially successful, their capture of the locomotive "The General" resulted in a nearly 100 mile race that became known as "The Great Locomotive Chase". Sgt. Pittenger was one of these raiders, traveling in a small group for four days to reach Big Shanty and then joining the reunited group in the daring sabotage mission. In the ensuing race, a limited amount of damage was accomplished to bridges and rail lines, and in the end all members of the Andrew's Raid were captured and confined in Confederate prisons. On June 7th James Andrews was hanged as a spy, and on the 18th seven more raiders (including the civilian members) were hanged. Fourteen raiders later escaped their prison camp. Pittenger was one of 6 of them to reach friendly lines. |
| Upon his arrival in Washington, DC with 5 other escaped raiders, Pittinger became the 5th to receive the Medal of Honor. He went into the ministry after his war service, and wrote a book titled "The Daring and the Suffering" to preserve the story of the Andrews Raid. The 1950s Disney movie titled "The Great Locomotive Chase" was based largely on the details of Pittinger's book. |
Medal Of Honor Feature Sites |
||||
History  |
Citations |
Photos |
Living Heroes |
In Memory |
|
If you don't see links to
additional MOH Photos at LEFT, CLICK HERE. |
||||
| Copyright
© 1999-2014 by HomeOfHeroes.com 2115 West 13th Street - Pueblo, CO 81003 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED If you reproduce the above photograph, please credit: HomeOfHeroes.com |
HomeOfHeroes.com now has more than 25,000 pages of US History for you to view.
