On April 12, 1862, James J. Andrews and a band of Union spies stole the General locomotive in Big Shanty (today called Kennesaw), Georgia. Andrews and his raiders planned to use the steam engine to travel to Chattanooga, Tennessee, destroying the bridges along the Western & Atlantic Railroad which linked Atlanta with that city. If successful, this daring expedition would have resulted in the fall of not only Chattanooga, but a large part of east Tennessee, as well as leaving Lynchburg, Virginia vulnerable and possibly also threatening Stonewall Jackson's troops in the Shenandoah Valley. The...