the firing on Fort
Sumter by the Confederates, a passenger train pulled out of the old car
shed in Atlanta. It was a "mixed" train, being composed of three freight
cars, a baggage car, and the passenger coaches. The train started
from Atlanta at an early hour, arrived at Marietta about daylight,
and stopped at Big Shanty, about seven miles north of Marietta,
for breakfast. At Marietta, early as the hour was, quite a crowd of
passengers were waiting to take the train. This excited no remark. There
was a good deal of travel and traffic on the State Road at that time,
for it was the key to the Confederacy--the one artery that connected the
army at the front with its source of supplies.

The conductor of the train was Captain William A. Fuller, of Atlanta.
Captain Fuller's title was not one of courtesy. He was a captain in the
Confederate Army, on detached service. The engineer in charge of the
locomotive was Jeff Cain. Mr. Antony Murphy, an employee of the road,
was also on the train. At Big Shanty the passengers were allowed
twenty minutes for breakfast, but the train men were in the habit of
dispatching their meal a little quicker than this, so as to see that
everything about the locomotive was shipshape when the conductor tapped
the bell. Captain Fuller, sitting at a table near a window, had a
full view of the train. He had hardly begun to eat before he saw the
locomotive (the now famous "General") and the three freight cars pull
out, and heard the gong sound as the cord snapped. He rose instantly and
rushed from the breakfast room, followed by Engineer Cain and Antony
Murphy. He saw the "General" going at full speed up the road with
three freight cars attached. Without hesitation Captain Fuller started
after the flying train on foot, followed by Cain and Murphy. Hundreds of
soldiers were idling about the station. They had no idea what was taking
place. They thought either that the locomotive had been carried up the
track to take on or leave a freight car, or that some practical joker
was playing a prank. They showed their enjoyment of the situation by
laughing and cheering loudly when Captain Fuller, followed by Engineer
Cain and Mr. Murphy, started after the "General "on foot.

[Illustration: Capture of the Locomotive 289]

The locomotive had been captured, and had the plan of its captors been
successful, a paralyzing, perhaps a fatal, blow would have been struck
at the Confederacy. The way the capture had come abou