Texas, The

About this property

Western & Atlantic Railroad #49 "Texas" is a 4-4-0 "American" type steam locomotive built in 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad by Danforth, Cooke & Co., best known as the principal pursuit engine in the Great Locomotive Chase, chasing the General after the latter was stolen by Union saboteurs in an attempt to ruin the Confederate rail system during the American Civil War. The locomotive is preserved at the Atlanta History Center. The Texas was built in October 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad by locomotive manufacturer Danforth, Cooke and Company in Paterson, New Jersey, and subsequently shipped from Paterson to the Port of Savannah, thence delivered via the Georgia Rail Road & Banking Company and Macon & Western Railroad to the W&A headquarters in Atlanta. The Texas provided freight and passenger service on the W&A's main line between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. At the onset of the Civil War, the locomotive primarily hauled local freight and cargo without any major incident. However, on April 12, 1862, the Texas, while pulling loaded 21 freight cars from Dalton southbound towards Atlanta, was commandeered by William Allen Fuller to chase down spies, led by James J. Andrews, during the "Great Locomotive Chase." Steaming in reverse after jettisoning the railcars, the Texas pursued the fleeing General over 51 miles before the raiders abandoned their stolen engine two miles north of Ringgold, Georgia. The Texas's engineer, Peter Bracken, towed the abandoned General back to Adairsville, Georgia, and then picked up his 12 cars and steamed into Atlanta, well behind schedule, but with good reason. Following the incident, the Texas and nine boxcars were loaned to the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad to haul salt and cargo from the mines at Saltville, Virginia in 1863. While in Virginia, the engine was captured by the U.S. Military Railroad (USMRR). Eventually, as Union forces made their way toward Atlanta, the W&ARR and its 46 other locomotives were captured as well. The USMRR returned the Texas, W&ARR, and its other locomotives to the State of Georgia on September 25, 1865. The engine continued to serve the W&ARR during the Reconstruction era, though under several different stewards as the public railroad was steadily privatized. The State of Georgia numbered the W&ARR's engines in 1866, leading to the Texas's designation as number 49. In 1870, the W&ARR was leased out, for a period of twenty years, to a group of Georgia investors led by former war-time governor Joseph E. Brown. Alongside the W&ARR's other 44 locomotives at the time, the Texas was renumbered and renamed - becoming the Cincinnati, number 12. During the lease period, the engine received a new boiler (1877), was converted to burn coal, and was regauged (1886) as the W&ARR converted its entire locomotive rolling stock to the national standard gauge.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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