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Register of the Dorsey (Daniel A.) Civil War Scrapbook &
Memorabilia,
1862;
1881-1908
Mss199
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Title: Dorsey (Daniel A.) Civil War Scrapbook &
Memorabilia,
Date (inclusive): 1862;
1881-1908
Collection number: Mss199
Creator:
Douglas Boyce
Extent: 0.25 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Dorsey (Daniel A.) Civil War Scrapbook &
Memorabilia, Mss199, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections,
University of the Pacific Library
Daniel A. Dorsey was a member of Andrews' Chattanooga Railroad
Expedition of 1862, a Union Civil War raid. Brig. General Ormsby M. Mitchell,
ordered Union spy, James J. Andrews, to take some men, capture a train, and
isolate Chattanooga by destroying telegraph lines and burning bridges on the
northern section of the Georgia State Railroad and the East Tennessee Railroad
near the Georgia state line. Andrews put together an expedition of 24 (some
sources say 22 men) Union Army volunteers from the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On
April 12, 1862, disguised as Southerners, they made their way in small groups
to Marietta, Georgia. The men planned to board the train at Marietta and ride
to Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), Georgia, a meal stop without telegraph
communications. Heavy rains delayed them, but they gathered as planned. At Big
Shanty passengers went into the station for breakfast except Andrews and his
men, who left the train from the side opposite the station, dashed to the
engine called "General," uncoupled it, its tender, and three boxcars and drove
off. Wilson W. Brown, acted as engineer, William Knight as Assistant, Alfred
Wilson as fireman, others served as brakemen on top of the cars, while others
were along to blow up bridges and to supply cover fire under attack.
Unknown to Andrews, the Confederates had established a camp at Big
Shanty and the job was now complicated by the presence of hundreds of
Confederate soldiers. Because of Mitchell's success in battle at Pittsburg
Landing, the Confederates were running unscheduled trains south. The raiders
were held up at Kingsville an hour waiting for several trains to pass.
Meanwhile, William A. Fuller, conductor, and Anthony Murphy foreman of the
railway shop at Atlanta, realized that the engine had been stolen and started
in pursuit--first on foot, then in a handcar, and finally obtaining an engine.
Andrews discovered that bridges soaked by rain did not take fire easily
and under pursuit the best his men could do was to cut telegraph lines and
throw obstacles on the track. Fuller and Murphy were gaining rapidly, even
running through a small section of track that had been destroyed. Andrews'
raiders finally out of fuel 18 miles south of Chattanooga abandoned the train
and took to the woods.
According to William Pittenger a member of the expedition who wrote
Capturing a Locomotive , Andrews used poor judgement in separating his men in
the escape rather than fighting it out or setting off together. Andrews was
used to acting as a spy rather than as a military leader. All were captured
within a week. The men were taken to a Knoxville prison where they were placed
in chains, starved and tortured. Divided into two groups, within two months of
the raid, J.J. Andrews and seven of his men were tried and executed in Atlanta,
Andrews on June 7th and the others on June 18, 1862. The other group remained
in jail for months awaiting execution. Finally, they tried to escape, and nine
succeeded, but the rest were held as prisoners of war until they were exchanged
through a special arrangement with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Dorsey
was in the group that escaped. He travelled with Hawkins and proceeded to the
Union lines at Somerset, Kentucky. His account is to be found in Pittenger's
book.
After the War Dorsey gave many lectures about his experiences in various
cities including Washington, D.C. and Chicago. He kept a scrapbook (1881-1908)
of the Great Locomotive Chase and related topics, including: the Congressional
Act granting pensions of $20 a month to the survivors of the expedition;
Jefferson Davis; and the Civil War. During his final years, Dorsey lived in
Kearney, Nebraska.
The collection consists of Daniel A. Dorsey's scrapbook, photographs and
his personal annotated copy of William Pittenger's published account of the
Great Chattanooga Locomotive Chase (1862).