Download or read book Railroad Raiders of the Civil War written by James M. Volo and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2013-11-30 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About Railroad RaidersThe focus of this selection concerns both the Federal and Confederate efforts to disable or maintain the railroads within the active theaters of the war. Real railroads of iron and steam and ribbons of steel vanishing into the horizon quickly became a strategic objective of both armies in the Civil War. Raiders and protectors were deployed both North and South. The damage inflicted on roadways and rolling stock was not always easy to accomplish. The simplest method of slowing a train was to remove a small section of rail, but once spotted the gap was not difficult to repair. Both sides learned to tear up long sections of track, pile up and set fire to the ties, and heat and bend the iron. This was temporarily effective, but the rails could often be reheated, straightened out, and spiked back into place. The destruction of bridges, trestles, rolling stock, and especially engines was more difficult and expensive to undo. It was found that to permanently disable a locomotive, however, smashing cylinder heads, pumps, links, and valve stems was not enough. The parts had to be scattered, taken away, or buried or thrown into an inaccessible body of water.It is the author's purpose to record this often under-reported aspect of the Civil War for both military and railroading enthusiasts. Most Civil War historians concentrate on the strategic and military aspects of the railroading industry, and they rather uncritically mention engineering and other technical factors as if they were simply founded or well established. They were not. In many cases, the same sources and traditions are always quoted with no investigation into their accuracy, and no further understanding of the matter at hand is attempted. The Confederate Railroads, for instance, have only been given a detailed examination once. The Railroads of the Confederacy, by Robert Black (1952), was written sixty years ago. To the topic, the present author brings both the wide knowledge of a military historian and the technical knowledge of a professor of physics. Those readers who are impatient to read about the raids without a knowledge of the foundations of Civil War railroading may scroll to “In the War Zone” midway through this book, but they will miss much of the underlying meaning and should return to read the earlier sections. Those unfamiliar with the geography of the region should look to the maps in the rear.
Download or read book Early Oklahoma Railroad Raiders written by Charlton Andrews and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Railroad Raiders written by William Pittenger and published by . This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1862, J. J Andrews, a United States secret agent who habitually travelled into and out of the Confederate States on spying missions, conceived a daring plan to disrupt the Georgia State Railroad by the burning of bridges and creating general chaos behind the lines. To achieve this objective he brought together a special team of saboteurs, drawn principally from Ohio Volunteer Regiments of the Union Army. This early covert operation meant the troops had to travel in disguise-without uniforms-into the very heartland of the enemy. Initially all went well, Pittenger, a young team member describes the abduction of a locomotive in thrilling detail. The South was not about to allow such audacity to go unpunished however, and soon every resource it could bring to bear was dedicated to the capture of the saboteurs. Soon the entire countryside was in arms against them and they were taken prisoner. For some, prison was inevitable, but for others the future held only the gallows and the hangman's rope. The survivors soon realised they were embarked upon a race against time and their only hope for life meant a daring escape and bid for freedom.
Download or read book The Mitchell Railroad Raiders Abridged Annotated written by John A. Wilson and published by . This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hon. Judge Holt, in his official report as Secretary of War, used these words: "The expedition, in the daring of its conception, had the wildness of a romance; while in the gigantic and overwhelming results it sought and was likely to accomplish, it was absolutely sublime."What was the "expedition?" To disrupt and destroy the Confederate rail lines that were feeding the rebel army with arms and supplies. It was extremely hazardous guerrilla warfare.Twenty-four intrepid men under the division of General Ormsby Mitchell volunteered for the mission. John "Alf" Wilson was among them and here he tells the true story of their actions, capture, and escape to freedom.Wilson's modest style, affection for his brothers-in-arms, and his shocking descriptions of life in a Confederate prison camp, make this one of the most compelling narratives of the American Civil War. This is also a story you won't read in such detail anywhere else.
Download or read book The Mitchell Railroad Raiders written by John A. Wilson and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hon. Judge Holt, in his official report as Secretary of War, used these words: "The expedition, in the daring of its conception, had the wildness of a romance; while in the gigantic and overwhelming results it sought and was likely to accomplish, it was absolutely sublime." What was the "expedition?" To disrupt and destroy the Confederate rail lines that were feeding the rebel army with arms and supplies. It was extremely hazardous guerrilla warfare. Twenty-four intrepid men under the division of General Ormsby Mitchell volunteered for the mission. John "Alf" Wilson was among them and here he tells the true story of their actions, capture, and escape to freedom.
Download or read book Wild Train written by Charles O'Neill and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Less than eight hours of a wet April Saturday in 1862 along a stretch of Georgia railroad track have been widely acknowledged to contain the most melodramatic single sequence of events of the Civil War: the capture of a locomotive deep in the Confederacy by a party of twenty-two Union raiders and the ensuing eighty-six-mile chase led by a handful of determined and resourceful Georgia railroad men. -- Pg. xiii.
Download or read book The Great Locomotive Chase written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 1862, the stage was set for one of the greatest locomotive chases in history. Union forces planned to steal a train and travel at high speed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, disabling the line as they went, in order to cut off vital rail supplies to the Confederate stronghold of Atlanta, Georgia, some 100-plus miles to the southwest. What they hadn't banked on was the dogged determination of one man – train conductor William Fuller – who, after realizing his train had been stolen, began a frantic pursuit, first by handcar, then by top-speed locomotive, dealing with derailments by running miles on foot to the next station, and single-handedly removing drag ties from the track in front of his train. The raiders were so hotly pursued that they had no time to inflict serious damage on the tracks and could not stop to gather more fuel. Just north of Ringgold, some miles south of Chattanooga, The General ran out of wood and the raiders scattered into the forested Appalachian Mountains. All were captured within days and sentenced to death. Discover the history of one of the most colourful and dramatic episodes of the Civil War.
Download or read book Adventures of Alf Wilson written by John A Wilson and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adventures of Alf Wilson-Large Print Edition This story of the Mitchel railroad raiders originally published in 1897.The Adventures of Alf Wilson is the personal account of the raid by one of its members.This is about that mission the capture of the entire raiding party, trials, hanging's, escapes and eventual successes of the participants.
Download or read book Daring and Suffering written by William Pittenger and published by . This book was released on 1864 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Locomotive Firemen s Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Railway Conductor written by and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 986 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen s Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1917 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Stealing the General written by Russell S. Bonds and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 1862, 20 Union soldiers crossed Confederate lines to steal a locomotive called the General and destroy a critical Confederate supply line. In the aftermath half the team was executed; the half that escaped received the newly established Medal of Honor. -- publishers description.
Download or read book Daring and Suffering written by William Pittenger and published by . This book was released on 1887 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Daring and Suffering written by William Pittenger and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Daring and Suffering: A History of the Andrews Railroad Raid Into Georgia in 1862, Embracing a Full and Accurate Account of the Secret Journey to the Heart of the Confederacy, the Capture of a Railway Train in a Confederate Camp, the Terrible Chase That Followed, and the Subse This book, which is partly historical and partly personal, is written from the standpoint of frank egotism. It is far more easy to tell what the writer thought, felt and did, in the first person, than to resort to tedious circumlocution. As a large part of the interest of such a narrative must consist in describing the sensations experienced in passing through such appalling dangers and tremendous vicissitudes of fortune, it is clear that in a work of plain fact the writer cannot avoid making himself more prominent than his comrades. His own emotions and the incidents in which he participated will be indelibly engraven in his memory, while impressions received at second hand grow dim with the passage of years. It also happened that, in most cases where selection was practicable, the writer was made the spokesman of the whole party, and was thus brought into more frequent contact with both friend and foe. Many instances of this will be noticed all through the story. Great care has been taken in the citation of authorities. The writer has not hesitated to claim for his own notes and memories the full weight to which they are entitled, and has carefully indicated the sources from which he has drawn all other facts. In no portion of war history of equal magnitude is there more abundant material preserved both on the Federal and the Confederate sides. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Download or read book Railroad Men written by and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book True Raiders written by Brad Ricca and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True Raiders is The Lost City of Z meets The Da Vinci Code, from critically acclaimed author Brad Ricca. This book tells the untold true story of Monty Parker, a British rogue nobleman who, after being dared to do so by Ava Astor, the so-called “most beautiful woman in the world,” headed a secret 1909 expedition to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant. Like a real-life version of Raiders of the Lost Ark, this incredible story of adventure and mystery has almost been completely forgotten today. In 1908, Monty is approached by a strange Finnish scholar named Valter Juvelius who claims to have discovered a secret code in the Bible that reveals the location of the Ark. Monty assembles a ragtag group of blueblood adventurers, a renowned psychic, and a Franciscan father, to engage in a secret excavation just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Using recently uncovered records from the original expedition and several newly translated sources, True Raiders is the first retelling of this group’s adventures– in the space between fact and faith, science and romance.
