This is Angela Odell, and you are listening to Real Cool History for Kids, a podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical worldview perspective.

Welcome to an adventure.

Welcome to episode 166 of real cool history for kids. This episode is for Walter Vetterick, who wanted to hear the story of one of the boldest and most daring adventures of the American Civil War, the great locomotive chase, also called Andrew's Raid. In past episodes, I've told you guys quite a few stories about the American Civil War that almost tore the nation in two.

In April of 1862, the Northern Union Army was pressing southward,

while the Southern, the Confederate Army, was struggling to hold its ground.

Railroads had become one of the most important elements of each side's war effort.

Trains carried food and ammunition and troops and other vital supplies.

Whoever controlled the rail lines controlled all of these important aspects of the war.

So it's very important to have that control.

A man named James J. Andrews, a tall, quiet civilian scout from Kentucky, was known for his bravery

and his clever mind. He came up with a plan so daring that even seasoned

soldiers thought it might be, well, impossible. Andrews believed that a small group of union men

should sneak deep into the Confederate territory and destroy part of the Western and Atlantic Railroad.

This was the rail line that connected Atlanta to Chattanooga, and if they could stop the flow of supplies

to the Confederate armies, they could help the Union Army capture Chattanooga itself.

Andrews handpicked 22 young volunteer soldiers from Ohio regiments who were quick thinkers and

strong workers.

Many of these men were barely older than teenagers, and they disguised themselves

as traveling civilians carrying forged passes and pretending to be southern passengers. Quietly,

and in small groups, they slipped through enemy territory, traveling hundreds of miles by

foot, wagon, and train until they reached the small town of Marietta, Georgia.

Early in the morning of April 12, 1862, their plan swung into motion.

...