Where the General was Caught

Ringgold, Georgia

On April 12, 1862, a group of about 20 Union commandos stole the locomotive General while its crew was eating breakfast at a nearby hotel. The Yankees raced north almost 90 miles, tearing up track, cutting telegraph wires, burning bridges, but their Confederate pursuers never gave up, and eventually caught the General here, about three miles south of the Tennessee state line. As something the South could celebrate, big markers were erected at both the beginning and end of the General's journey, and the locomotive became one of the most beloved Civil War relics in Dixie.