Customer Reviews

Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor

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Detailed coverage of one of the Civil War's lesser known and stranger episodes. Includes informed speculation on why the endeavour was undertaken, thorough recital of the events of the raid itself, and extensive coverage of the raiders in the following days, as they were moved between prisons and, eventually, returned to the North. This latter portion is an aspect of the story which has not previously been told, and is fully as interesting as the events of the raid itself.

In no part of this book did I find myself wanting further detail, or wondering what events had been omitted or compressed for brevity. It is rare to find a book which is so complete in it's story.

This book is a welcome addition to Raiders lore. This is the first effort at compiling all the sources on Andrews Raiders since Charles O'Niell's "Wild Train". The footnotes are a treasure trove of insight. "Stealing" is more than the story of a train chase. Bonds describes in detail the effect of the raid on Atlanta, the Confederate Army and the captured Raiders themselves. The additional account of the first Medals of Honor hopefully is a prelude to his next book.

Stealing the General is a great book--full of adventure, suspense, and terrific characters (very well drawn by the author)--and a bittersweet story, one that shows in wonderful prose how a single event--in this case the hijacking of a Confederate locomotive--can be used to explain the emotional and strategic story of the Civil War. I found this book to be one of the best I've read all year. I enjoyed learning about General Ormsby Mitchel, for instance, who authorized the raid--he was an internationally renowned astronomer before the war--and had he not died of typhoid fever early on, was well on his way to becoming a household name. The author's accounts of the executions of some of the Raiders is brilliantly done--not morbid, just moments where you feel the doom of the condemned--and his description of how eight of the Raiders ultimately broke out of prison and escaped to freedom makes for wonderful page-turning reading. Although I did not know much about the history of Georgia before reading this book, the author's snapshot of northern Georgian history is both fascinating and contains some of the best passages in the book.

Popular history at its best, brilliantly researched, organized and written. Even if you have no interest in the Civil War, railroads or military matters, buy and read this book -- you won't be disappointed. Smooth narrative flow keeps the action on the ground moving along at an interesting pace, while taking time to connect the locomotive chase with the larger military and political events which place it in historical context. Wish more authors wrote this well.

After reading Mr. Bonds' second book, War Like The Thunderbolt, I went back to read Stealing The General. As with Thunderbolt, I found Stealing The General to be well-written and thoroughly researched. Mr. Bonds has organized the varied, sometimes inconsistent stories concerning the theft of The General into a cohesive, "here's how it really happened" account of this historic event.
This story has been handed down through generations, celebrated in a museum and featured in movies. Mr. Bonds' greatest contribution to the story may be that he reminds us that this was a war mission that resulted in the deaths of many of its participants. As is often the case in war, a group of men entrusted their lives to the supposed skills and intellect of a single, charismatic leader and paid harshly for it.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it follows until the end the lives of many of those involved on both sides in the story of The General. In some cases, those who were adversaries in the story became
friends and attended reunions into the early 1900's.
Mr. Bonds' version of the story of The General held my interest from the beginning. As with Thunderbolt, I finished this book with a greater understanding of and appreciation for the people and events described within. I highly recommend this book.

There has been such a deluge of books on the American Civil War in the past forty years - many of them thrown together with minimal research - that many readers might ask, do we really need another? Particularly a book written by a lawyer for Coca-Cola? In fact, Stealing the General is a remarkably good book that seems to escape the vicissitudes of more pedestrian efforts at Civil War history. Author Russell S. Bonds has not only carefully researched the details of the famous Andrews raid in April 1862, but he lays out the tale of train theft, capture, execution for some and escape for others in a dramatic and gripping fashion. Unlike most Civil War history, this book is a real page turner and even though most readers will know the broad details, the author displays an ability to fascinate the reader with details that are often not so well known. This book can be viewed on several levels: as a cautionary tale about one of America's first commando-style operations, as a demonstration of human resilience and ingenuity in the face of danger, and as a measuring point on a nation's attempt to quantify military valor. Stealing the General succeeds magnificently on all three levels.

Stealing the General is laid out in standard narrative format, with the opening chapters discussing the origins of the raid and the men involved on both sides. Most readers are not likely to be overly familiar with Union Brigadier General Ormsby Mitchell, an aggressive division commander in eastern Kentucky in the spring of 1862. Mitchell developed the plan with James J. Andrews, a smuggler and sometimes-Union intelligence operative that was familiar with Confederate railroad operations in Tennessee and Georgia. As the author explains, the basic plan was for Andrews to infiltrate behind enemy lines with over 20 disguised Union soldiers, steal an engine in Georgia then proceed back up the rail line toward Chattanooga, burning bridges and tearing up rails as he went. With the Confederate lines of communication disrupted, Mitchell would lead his troops to capture the isolated Chattanooga garrison in a coup de main. As the author describes it, the plan initially went well, with 22 of 24 raiders succeeding in infiltrating over 100 miles behind enemy lines and Mitchell succeeded in making a rapid advance into northern Alabama and northwestern Tennessee.

As a look at America's first real special forces operation, the Andrews raid reveals the impact of small "friction" factors that ultimately doomed the raid to failure. The well-known U.S. Army "6-P" rule was also in effect, in that Andrews failure to bring along any tools for removing rails prevented the raiders from doing much damage to the rail line. The author's narrative of the railroad chase and the capture of the raiders is well-told and first-rate drama. This part of the book, particularly the role of minor delays, reminds me of the 1945 "Hammelburg Raid" by Patton's troops, which was also doomed by minor delays. However, the military lessons of the Andrews Raid are limited by the fact that these were not specially trained soldiers and that there was a serious lack of small-unit leadership.

Readers may expect the narrative to wind down after the capture of all the readers, but the sections on the execution of Andrews and 7 raiders, then the incredible escape of 8 of the raiders from Atlanta are just as enthralling as the section on the raid itself. The final section concerns the awarding of the newly created Medal of Honor to most of the survivors, which is also quite well done. The narrative does begin to drag a bit in the final pages as the author covers some of the post-war self-serving disputes between the survivors and the role played by various individuals. One character that readers will find hard to like is William A. Fuller, the southern conductor who played a key role in apprehending the raiders. Although the author appears to paint Fuller as a fanatic, almost sadistic character at times, he then reverses himself and tries to certify that Fuller was indeed a decent man who did what he thought was right. As for myself, the author's description of Fuller's statement that "Andrews did not show much strength of character" on the scaffold, then keeping the rope that hanged PVT Samuel Slavens as a "prized possession," then expressing his condolences to Slavens' widow after the war seemed to certify him as a first-class jerk. Sometimes jerks can play a role in historical events - perhaps another lesson of this book - but it does not ennoble them.

Ultimately, the author succeeds in covering this story from start to finish and provides great drama and insight in parts. This author's style can be a bit tedious at times, with a tendency to over-describe every building along the railway. I also wish that the author had put more effort into explaining Andrews himself, who enters and exits the book as an enigma. In any event, Stealing the General provides an example of historical writing that breaks away from the drudgery of so much other contemporary Civil War historiography.

This book was a thrilling and engaging read from start to finish. Bonds does an excellent job of offering both anecdoctal accounts and more historically accurate interpretations, without taking away from his even flowing story telling narration of the events. Living in Atlanta, this book made a number of often seen historical landmarks vividly come to life; however, the story is a wonderful read for anyone interested in this great civil war adventure.

In "Stealing the General" Russell Bonds presents a minutely detailed account of an 1862 raid that sent a party of Union soldiers (and two civilians) behind Confederate lines to steal a locomotive and then burn railroad bridges between Atlanta and Chattanooga to isolate the latter city in advance of a proposed Federal movement. The Union raiding party captured the locomotive (the "General" of the title) but because of close pursuit they were unable to carry out the main part of their mission, the destruction of the bridges. The entire raiding party was subsequently captured and about a third of them were executed as spies (the survivors and their dead military comrades were awarded Medals of Honor). Bonds delves into the backgrounds of the raiders (and their foes), creating three-dimensional portraits of real men, with flaws as well as commendable virtues.

The incident resulted in many postwar articles and books, including several by participants, and eventually provided seeds for not only the 1956 film, "The Great Locomotive Chase," but also an earlier Buster Keaton classic, "The General." But for the past half century, the raid has been largely neglected as a subject for serious study; Bonds's book corrects this lack.

Although not a story of a great battle or a famous military leader, this is nonetheless a book that provides compelling, vivid reading about heroes who may have been less than perfect, and all the more real because of that.

Russell Bonds has done a wonderful job of bringing to life the men and events of the great locomotive chase. I was pleased to read about Jacob Parrott who is being considered for the replacement of Wm. Allen as Ohio's representative in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.He was a member of the Andrews raiders. Survived the war and was the first to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor. Ohio would do well to have him and Garfield in Statuary Hall.

I am and have been an avid Civil War buff since age 12(now 71) when my Grandfather and I toured the Kennesaw Mtn. Battlefield, which is very near the scene that Bonds narrates. His style is fresh, and an easy read, quick flowing.....He has the knack of melding the historic facts of the incident with modern day examples that creates an exciting read....If you are into Civil War history at all you will truly enjoy this book....I highly recommend this fresh new look at a significant event in our Civil War......