"The General" 1927 Movie ... and other films about the 1862 Andrews Raid at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store

           The historical Civil War event took place in April 1862; a group of Union Army soldiers, led by civilians Andrews and Campbell, was ordered by Gen. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel to go behind Confederate lines dressed as civilians and steal a Western & Atlantic Railroad locomotive and train somewhere north of Atlanta, Georgia and drive it northward, cutting telegraph lines and burning bridges and ripping up track on the way. The men regrouped near Marrietta, Georgia and then found an unattended train at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) and stole it. William Fuller, conductor of Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 locomotive #3 General [1855], Jeff Cain [1827-97], engineer of The General, and Anthony Murphy, W&A foreman, quickly set off in pursuit to get the train back, at first on foot, then by handcar, and finally on several commandeered locomotives.
           The construction engine Yonah [Rogers 1848] was steamed up and busy at Etowah, Georgia; Andrews passed the locomotive because he thought destroying it would attract unwanted attention; Fuller, Murphy & Cain abandoned their handcar at Etowah and commandeered Yonah for fourteen swift miles. The Kingston yards were choked with rolling stock, so the Yonah was abandoned; Fuller, Cain & Murphy commandeered the locomotive William R. Smith of the Rome & Kingston Railroad [est. 1848]. Two miles along, the track was ripped up; Fuller & Murphy continued on foot. Standing exhausted on the roadbed, they flagged down the southbound Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 locomotive #5 'Texas' [1856], whose engineer gladly joined up and ran his train in reverse to Adairsville, dropped his freight cars on a siding, and proceeded in reverse after The General. The General nearly collided with the southbound Catoosa in Calhoun, but Andrews talked his way past; when Texas arrived, they conferred with the crew of Catoosa, who followed behind; both engines were {dangerously} running in reverse.
           The General ran out of fuel 18 miles short of Chattanooga, and the raiders scattered; but all 22 men were captured within two weeks. Andrews, Campbell, and six others were court-martialed as spies and were hanged & buried in Atlanta; eight raiders escaped and reached Union territory; six raiders were held as prisoners of war and exchanged for Confederate prisoners in March 1863. Almost all Union military members of the raid received the new Medal of Honor.

Synopses The silent short of 1911 is a very simple version of the military raid with trains chasing in piney woods; the raiders abandon their locomotive and are captured or shot. Truncated version with Blackhawk Films logos is on YouTube {see below}. The silent short of 1915 is from the same company, and is described as having five minutes bookend framing of the elderly one-armed railroad flagman telling how he lost his arm during the Civil War (that explanation being five minutes of footage from the prior short). Actor-director J.P. McGowan appeared in both short films.

Buster Keaton's "The General" is a comedy-romance silent film masterpiece, and Keaton always said that it was his favorite of the hundreds of films that he made. The story is very loosely based on the Andrews Raid: Johnny Gray is rejected for the Confederate Army because he is too valuable as a railroad worker; but his girlfriend assumes that the cause was cowardice, and dumps him. Yankee raiders steal the locomotive and train while the girl is a passenger. Johnny sets off alone to get his two beloveds back: the girl and The General. The physical comedy is uniquely Keaton, who performed all his own stunts. Major plot differences occur, including Johnny sabotaging a trestle that collapses under a Yankee troop train. Johnny is a hero and he gets back both the girl and the locomotive.

Walt Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase" was more-or-less historically accurate; writing credits include two of William Pittenger's memoirs. The movie was filmed in widescreen and Technicolor™ in Georgia and in South Carolina and includes four songs: Fess Parker sings two solo and two with others.

History of The Films The two silent shorts of 1911 and 1915 were made by Kalem, so location filming is likely to have been in New York or New Jersey. At least one print of the 1911 short does exist, probably a 16mm copy. Blackhawk Films sold a version on VHS in the late 1990s, and a truncated version is on YouTube {see below}.

After the Sons of The Confederacy prevented Buster Keaton from using the original General in Tennessee, he found a narrow-gauge logging railroad in Oregon with 30 miles of wonderfully rough track much overgrown with weeds & bushes. With approval from producer Joseph M. Schenck, Keaton moved his production company and 18 freight cars of props & sets to Cottage Grove, Oregon, and in two months built a false-front town of Marrietta, Georgia about a mile outside of Cottage Grove. Filming began on June 8th and wrapped on September 18th; Keaton hurriedly edited the 200,000 feet of film for a December release. The official premiere of "The General" was in two small theaters in Tokyo, Japan on 31 December 1926; the U.S. release at the Capitol Theater [1919-68] in New York City was delayed by extension of Greta Garbo's hit "The Flesh & The Devil"; the 5 February 1927 release was panned by critics and the film flopped at the box office. The film was preserved at the National Film Registry in its first year (1989) and was the first silent film released on Blu-ray in the U.S.A. (2009).

The Locomotives: Details for Railroad Buffs            The original Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 locomotive #3 General was built by Rogers in 1855, survived the Andrews Raid, and operated on the W&A until the destruction of Atlanta in September 1864; stories vary, but the General (or some facsimile) was repaired after the war, then rebuilt in the 1870s, and converted to burn coal. General (and all Southern 5-foot gauge equipment) was converted to standard gauge in 1886-87. General was retired from service in 1891 and parked on a siding at Vining, Georgia, then restored for display at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. General was placed on stationary display at Chattanooga Union Depot in 1901, with occasional forays under power to events such as Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's 'Fair of The Iron Horse' in 1927, Chicago's 'Century of Progress' Exhibition in 1933, the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the 1948 Chicago Railroad Fair.
           In preparation for upcoming Civil War Centennial hooplah, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad moved General to its shops and performed a thorough overhaul; today's locomotive is actually a mix of: salvaged parts found after the original locomotive was exploded by artillery, parts from similar engines, rebuilt parts, and modern enhancements added during the 1960-62 restoration. The locomotive travelled the U.S under its own power – along with a nicely-restored bright yellow 'Jim Crow' combination baggage and passenger car – then was put on display at the 1964 World's Fair in New York.
           The State of Georgia became interested in having General returned to home ground, but Chattanooga considered the old engine as city property; lawsuits ensued, with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding in 1970 in favor of Georgia and the L&N Railroad. General was ceremoniously presented by the L&N president to Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in February 1972, then moved to Kennesaw. The Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History opened in April 1972, where General remains today on static indoor display.

           Western & Atlantic construction engine Yonah, built by Rogers in 1848, was a much older locomotive design; it participated for 14 miles of the raid; after the war, it became a stationary boiler, then was scrapped in the 1870s.
           Locomotive William R. Smith of the Rome & Kingston Railroad [est. 1848] participated in only two miles of the raid; it became a stationary boiler in a Rome, Georgia factory, and was in use into the XXth Century.
           The real {southbound} Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 locomotive #5 Texas was built by Cooke in 1856, survived the Andrews Raid, and hauled salt & cargo from 1863 to 1865 on the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad; back on the W&A from 1865, the engine was renumbered and renamed Cincinnati in 1880 and converted to standard gauge in 1886-87. Retired in 1903 and stored on a siding, the deteriorated locomotive was discovered by a local newspaper, which stirred up a preservation effort. It was moved to Grant Park in 1910 (and exposed to the elements) then moved indoors in 1927 to the basement of the newly-constructed Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum. Texas underwent a cosmetic restoration in 1936, and was moved upstairs in 1981 during improvements to the facilities at Cyclorama.
           The southbound Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 locomotive Catoosa was built by Rogers in 1857 and survived the Andrews Raid; one report says that the locomotive was scrapped 'early in the XXth Century'.

Nothing is known about the railroad location or equipment used in the 1911 and 1915 silent shorts from Kalem (although New York or New Jersey are likely).

Buster Keaton originally made a deal with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway to borrow the preserved Western & Atlantic 4-4-0 locomotive #3 General, then on display in Chattanooga, and use a stretch of the L&N Railroad's older track in Tennessee. But when the Sons of The Confederacy heard that the film was to be a comedy, they created such an uproar that the railroad cancelled access for Keaton.
Keaton then found a narrow-gauge logging railroad in Oregon with 30 miles of wonderfully rough track much overgrown with weeds & bushes. With approval from producer Joseph M. Schenck, Keaton moved his production company and 18 freight cars of props & sets to Cottage Grove, Oregon, and in two months built a false-front town of Marrietta, Georgia about a mile outside of Cottage Grove. The Oregon Pacific & Eastern Railway [est. 1904] provided two wood-burning 4-4-0 locomotives [A & B], and Keaton purchased a third 4-4-0 locomotive [C] from a neighboring logging operation, to use as a spare. OP&E #4 [locomotive A] was built by Cooke in 1886, starred as 'The General', and continued logging service until scrapped in 1941. The intended spare locomotive was in better shape than the second OP&E 4-4-0 [B], and their roles were switched. After filming of the trestle collapse scene, the railroad crew salvaged removable parts from the destroyed 'Texas' [locomotive B] and then left it; more iron was salvaged for the war effort around 1942; the water level has risen significantly, and the frame is said to remain, but deep underwater. (Possibles for loco B are OP&E #9, a sister-engine to #A built by Cooke in 1886, or OP&E #5, built by Baldwin in 1882.) The origin and fate of 'Texas' locomotive C is unclear.

Walt Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase" was shot along the Tallulah Falls Railway [started in 1871, closed 1961]. The locomotive portraying 'General' was Baltimore and Ohio 4-4-0 #25 'William Mason' [1856]; the locomotive is still in service, at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. The locomotive portraying 'Texas' was the Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0 #22 'Inyo' [1875]; the locomotive is still in service, at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada.

Narratives of {raid participant} Rev. William Pittenger [1840-1904]
Pittenger published variations of the same account under four different titles: "Daring and Suffering" in 1863; "Capturing A Locomotive" in 1882, 1897 & 1905;
"A History of The Andrews Railroad Raid" in 1887; and "The Great Locomotive Chase" in 1889, Jones & Stanley 1893, 1910, Penn Publng 1917, 1922 & 1929

"The General"
[B.K.P./United Artists Tokyo Dec 1926, U.K. Jan 1927, USA Feb 1927]
"One of the best five silent films ever made" per A.F.I.; listed on National Film Registry, 1989

Co-written & co-directed by Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton [1895-1966]; also co-produced by & starring Buster Keaton;
co-starring Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Frederick Vroom, Charles Henry Smith, Frank Barnes, Joe Keaton,
Mike Donlin, Tom Nawn, Boris Karloff, Al St. John, and 125 horses & 500 members of the Oregon National Guard

Florida State University commissioned composer Jeff Beal to write a brand-new full orchestral score for 'The General'
that was premiered/performed by the University Philharmonia at a screening of the film in 2003.

the photo of Buster Keaton on the cowcatcher of 'Texas' with the 8-foot timber {as at top of this page}
is not available at Amazon at this time

"The Railroad Raiders of '62" 10-minute silent short [Kalem/General March 1915]
The old flagman tells how he lost his arm in the Civil War; directed by J.P. McGowan, also using footage from Olcott's 1911 short;
starring Helen Holmes, Leo D. Maloney & J.P. McGowan • credits at IMDb

"Here Comes The General! Three Rare Films About The Civil War's
Most Famous Locomotive" [1998]

Blackhawk Films 1998 video of Keaton's "The General" and two shorts

'from the Blackhawk Films Collection'; the three films are a public domain
version of "The General", the 1911 short film "Railroad Raiders of '62", and
an 11-minute Super-8 color short "Return of The General" [1962]
Blackhawk Films b&w/color VHS [1998] out of prodn/rare

"Return of The General" [1962] • bare credits at IMDb
watch color short free online [2/2012 upload; 7:59] at YouTube
described as 'an authorized adaptation of the motion picture "Here Comes
The General" {that was} produced by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad'

Andrews and seven other raiders were court-martialed as spies and were hanged; eight raiders escaped and reached Union territory; six raiders were held as prisoners of war
and exchanged for Confederate prisoners in March 1863. Almost all military members of the Andrews Raid received the new Medal of Honor.
civilian scout James J. Andrews [b. 1829?; hung as a spy June 1862]
civilian William Hunter 'Bill' Campbell [b. 1839; hung as a spy June 1862]
Private William Bensinger [b. 1840; exchanged; d. 1918]
Private Wilson W. Brown, engineer [b. 1837; escaped; d. 1916]
Private Robert Buffum [b. 1828; exchanged; d. 1871]
Corporal Daniel Allen Dorsey [b. 1838; escaped; d. 1918]
Corporal Martin Jones Hawkins [b. 1830; overslept/escaped; d. 1886]
Private William James Knight, engineer [b. 1837; escaped; d. 1916]
Corporal Samuel Llewellyn [b. 1841; forced C.S.A. enlistment; d. 1915)
Sergeant Elihu H. Mason [b. 1831; exchanged; d. 1896]
Private Jacob Parrott [b. 1843; exchanged; d. 1908]
Corporal William Pittenger [b. 1840; exchanged; wrote books; d. 1904]
Private John Reed Porter [b. 1838; overslept/escaped; d. 1923]
Corporal William H.H. Reddick [b. 1840; exchanged; d. 1903]
Private Samuel Robertson [b. 1843; hung as a spy 1862]
Sergeant Major Marion A. Ross [b. 1832; hung as a spy 1862]
Sergeant John Morehead Scott [b. 1839; hung as a spy 1862]
Private Charles Perry Shadrack [b. 1840; hung as a spy 1862]
Private Samuel Slavens [b. 1831; hung as a spy 1862]
Private Ovid Wellford 'James' Smith [b. 1844; forced C.S.A. enlistment; d. 1868]
Private George Davenport Wilson [b. 1830; hung as a spy 1862]
Private John Alfred Wilson [b. 1832; escaped; d. 1904]
Private John Wollam [b. 1840; escaped; d. 1890]
Private Mark Wood [b. 1839; escaped; d. 1866]

William Allen Fuller [1836-1905], conductor of The General
Jeff Cain [1827-97], engineer of The General
Anthony Murphy [], Western & Atlantic Railroad foreman
Peter J. 'Pete' Bracken [-1909], engineer on The Texas
Henry P. Haney [1846-1923], 15-year-old fireman on The Texas

	"The Railroads of The Confederacy" [1952] by Robert C. Black III Univ NC Press 9½x5¾ pb [4/98] for $21.24 Univ NC Press 9x6½ hardcover [1952] out of print/used
	"The Stolen Train: A Story of The Andrews Raiders" [YA 1953] by Robert P. Ashley, Illustrated by Albert Micale Literary Licensing 9x6 pb [10/2012] for $24.26 Scholastic Book Services 7½x5¼ pb [7/97] out of print/many, many used Scholastic Book Services 7½x5¼ pb [1971] out of print/used Scholastic Book Services pb [1963] out of print/used Literary Licensing 9x6 hardcover [10/2012] for $37.34 John C. Winston hardcover [1953] out of print/used
	"The Andrews Raid: or, The Great Locomotive Chase" [1956] by Samuel & Beryl Epstein, Illustrated by R.M. Powers Coward-McCann hardcover [1956] out of print/used
	"Walt Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase: A True Spy Story of The Civil War" [YA 1956] by Charles Spain Verral, Illustrated by Graham Kaye Simon & Schuster YA hardcover [1956] out of print/used
	"Wild Train: The Story of the Andrews Raiders - The First Full Account of A Daring Civil War Raid and Its Hair-Raising Aftermath" [1956] by Charles O'Neill long considered one of the most authoritative accounts of the Andrews Raid Random House 9x6½ hardcover [1956] out of print/used
	"Civil War Railroads: A Pictorial Story of The War Between The States, 1861‑1865" [1961] by George B. Abdill Over 220 b&w photographs from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and private collections across the country Indiana Univ Press 10¼x8½ hardcover [5/99] for $44.96
	"Mr. Lincoln's Military Railroads: A Pictorial History of United States Civil War Railroads, 1861-1865" [1979] by Roy & Arthur Meredith W.W. Norton & Co. 11x8½ hardcover [1979] for $59.70
	"The Great Locomotive Chase: More On The Andrews Raid & The First Medal of Honor" [1992] by W. Craig Angle self-publd 9¼x7¼ hardcover [12/92] out of print/used
	"Great Locomotive Chase: As Told By Men Who Made It Happen" [1994] Edited by George Aiken Historic Press of the South pamphlet [1994] out of print/scarce
	"The General & The Texas: A Pictorial History of The Andrews Raid, April 12, 1862" [1999] by Stan Cohen & James G. Bogle Pictorial Histories Publng 11x8½ pb [6/99] out of print/used
	"Stealing The General: The Great Locomotive Chase and The First Medal of Honor" [2006] by Russell S. Bonds Kindle Edition from Westholme Publng [2006 edition] for $9.99 Westholme Publng 9¼x6 pb [9/2008] for $14.02 Westholme Publng 9x6 hardcover [10/2006] for $22.87
	"The Great Locomotive Chase: The Andrews Raid, 1862" [2009] by Gordon Rottman, Illustrated by Mariusz Kozik Kindle Edition from Osprey Publng [9/2012] for $7.69 Osprey Publng 9¾x7¼ pb [11/2009] for $14.66
	"Railroads of The Civil War: An Illustrated History" [2010] by Michael Leavy Westholme Publng 10¼x8½ hardcover [12/2010] for $29.06

	"The General (Photoplay Edition)" [1927] {novelization} by Joseph Warren "Illustrated with scenes from Buster Keaton's Comedy Spectacle - presented by Joseph M. Schenck as a United Artists Picture" • A farcical novel with an historical background based on Buster Keaton's comedy spectacle film of the same name, inspired by a glorious exploit of the American civil war, wherein a lad chased a lass and a locomotive and a good time was enjoyed by all. Grosset & Dunlap pb [1927] long out of print/scarce Grosset & Dunlap 7¼x5¼ hardcover [1927] long out of print/used
	"The Great Chase" documentary [Continental Distributing Dec 1962] Produced, co-written & edited by Harvey Cort; narrated by Frank Gallop; with archive footage of Richard Barthelmess, Noah Beery, Douglas Fairbanks, Lillian Gish, Jetta Goudal, William S. Hart, Buster Keaton, Rod La Rocque, Marion Mack, Ruth Roland, Mack Sennett & Pearl White Image Ent. b&w DVD [6/99] out of prodn/used Home Vision b&w VHS [10/96] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb
	"Buster Keaton's The General (Film Classics Library Series)" [1975] Edited by Richard J. Anobile Darien House pb [1975] out of print/used Universe Books 11x8¾ hardcover [1975] out of print/used
	"The Day Buster Smiled" [1998] by Cottage Grove Historical Society "The 1926 filming of The General by Buster Keaton as chronicled in The Cottage Grove Sentinel newspaper [of] Cottage Grove, Oregon" Cottage Grove Historical Society pb [1998] out of print/very rare

	"Buster Keaton's The General Original Soundtrack 75th Anniversary Edition [2001] Soundtrack Factory soundtrack CD [2/2001] out of prodn/used Content & artists unclear; may be same as soundtrack below
	"The General: Original Soundtrack" [2004] by Carl Davis, Joe Hisaishi, Robert Israel, and The Alloy Orchestra Soundtrack Factory soundtrack CD [4/2004] for $4.60 Apparently the original 1927 music selections played by modern artists

	"Gone With The Glory: The Civil War In Cinema" [2006] by Brian Steel Wills Kindle Edition from Rowman & Littlefield [3/2013] for $9.99 Rowman & Littlefield Publrs 8½x5¼ pb [10/2011] for $16.16 Rowman & Littlefield Publrs 9½x6¼ hardcover [10/2006] out of print/used
	"Shooting The Civil War: Cinema, History and American National Identity" [2009] by Jenny Barrett I.B. Tauris 9¼x6 pb [3/2009] for $27.00 I.B. Tauris hardcover [3/2009] for $65.09

Magic Lantern Video & Book Store"The General" 1927 Movie ... and other films about the 1862 Andrews Raid

Magic Lantern Video & Book Store
"The General" 1927 Movie
... and other films about the 1862 Andrews Raid