Lieut William Pittenger

The Railroad Raiders: an Ohio Volunteers Recollections of the Andrews Raid to Disrupt the Confederate Railroad in Georgia During the American Civil War Lieut William Pittenger

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.