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The Kennesaw Gazette,
PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH.
Devoted to the Material Interests ahd Attractions
fbir Tourists in the Mountainous Region of
Northern and Northwest Georgia,
BEACHED BY
THE GREAT KENNESAW ROUTE:
Western and Atlantic Railroad:
Under the auspices of the Passenger Department,
BY
THE RECORD PUBLISHING COMPANY.
A. L. HARRIS, MANAGING EDITOR.
Atlanta., G-a.,N0v.,1886.
SUBSCRIPTION: $1 a year; six months, 50 cts.
A limited number of acceptable adver
tisements will be inserted in The Kennesaw
Gazette, which publishes a very large edi
tion every month, and it is safe to fray
that it is read by more people than any
other paper in the South. Great numbers
are distributed in Atlanta, to citizens and
travelers, by the publishers and officials of
the Western and Atlantic Railroad ; and at
other points where The Great Kennesaw Route
is represented. For space and terms ad
dress
®ljc Bennesflii) ©alette,
Box 57 Atlanta, Ga.,
and you will receive a prompt response.
Our Information Bureau.
Parties desiring information about any
part of the South with view of locating or
investing here, or with the view of travel
ing here for health or pleasure may address
their inquiries to this paper and they will
be promptly and reliably answered without
charge.
If parties having property they wish to
sell will send us a description and price,
we will at once, without charge, place it in
the hands of an efficient agent, best calcu
lated to handle the particular kind of
property described.
If you wish to buy property in the South,
send us your address and we will, without
charge, have mailed to you such informa
tion, or put you in correspondence with such
parties as will enable you to choose a lo
cation and find as nearly as possible what
you want.
The Atlanta Campaign.
Our illustrated article on the At
lanta Campaign, in the October num
ber of the Kennesaw Gazette, at
tracted such wide-spread attention and
demand for copies of the Gazette
containing it, that we concluded to re
publish the article in this number, as
our October edition was exhausted.
Readers of the Gazette will find the
lucid description of the Atlanta Cam
paign, commencing on page 10, illus
trated with the most accurate war
maps of the country, between Chatta
nooga and Atlanta, ever made, and
with, life-like portraits of Generals
Johnston and Sherman.
The communication on page 6 is well
worth reading. In commenting on
our article headed “Pleading the Baby
Act,” in the October Kennesaw Ga
zette, our correspondent shows up
the E. T., V. & G. Railway Co. in no
enviable light.
Kennesaw Mountain, the only moun
tain by that name in the United
States, is 22 miles north of Atlanta
and on the Western and Atlantic rail
road.
Names for Locomotives.
We have always been in favor of
naming locomotives instead of merely
numbering them. We rather uncon
sciously associate with a locomotive a
kind of individuality or almost person
ality, and this sentiment, somehow or
other, demands that a locomotive, like
a person or ship, should have a name.
The Western & Atlantic Railroad’s
locomotives have always had names as
well as numbers, and we trust that the
company will continue this practice in
future. These ’names are sometimes
very pleasant reminders of persons who
have been’associated with the road, or
of localities, etc.
Os the Western A Atlantic locomo
tives,'doubtles the most famous is the
“General,” (No. 3.) This is the en
gine which was captured by 22 Fed
eral soldiers in disguise on April 12,
1862, and with which they attempted
to escape from Big Shanty up the
Western & Atlantic Railroad, and
burn the bridges on the line between
that point and Chattanocga.
The historical fact is well known
that after an exciting chase of most
thrilling interest, the “General” was
overtaken above Ringgold by the pur
suers who had pressed the captors so
closely that they did not allow them
time to take in wood and water during
the last portion of the chase.
The “General,” as stated in the
Gazette several months ago, was also
directly under fire of the Federal bat
teries in the great battle of Kennesaw
Mountain, June 27, 1864 —General
Johnston having sent a train up to
about where the present station, Eliz
abeth, stands, just south of the Con
federate entrenchments. She carried
up a load of ammunition, and stayed
there for the purpose of receiving the
wounded in the battle and bringing them
back to Marietta after its termination.
Some of the shells from the Federal
batteries, as before stated, exploded
all around her.
She was also the last locomotive to
leave Atlanta when Hood’s army evac
uated the citv.
The “General” is still in the service
of the company; but, being treated
somewhat as a relic of the glorious past,
does not do any heavy work. She has
many callers on her, however, among
the tourists who are anxious to inspect
probably the most famous engine in
the United States.
Then, we have among the names of
the Western & Atlantic engines those
of some of the towns on its line, of
States, etc., among which we may
mention:
The Kingston, The Atlanta,
The Marietta, The Ringgold,
The Chattanooga, The Graysville,
The Calhoun, The Adairsville,
The Acworth, The Kentucky,
The Georgia, The Cincinnati.
The Executives of Georgia have
been honored in having selected from
them the names of,
Joseph E. Brown, Alex. H. Stephens,
James M. Smith, Benjamin Conley.
The Courts have had their usefulness
reflected in the names of,
TWF. KENNESAW GAZETTE.
Judge 0. A. Loch- JudgeJ. R. Par
rane, r °R>
Judge H. K. McCay.
The past Superintendents or other
officers and deceased Directors of the
company are remembered when we see ;
the names of,
Campbell Wallace, E. G. Cabaniss,
J. W. Lewis, Gen. Wm. Macßae,
BenjaminH. Hill, John H. Flynn,
Wm. M. Wadley, Owen Lynch,
H. I. Kimball, C. A. Nutting,
W. S. Holt.
The famous characters in history,
mythology, romance, etc., are called
to mind by the names of,
Stonewall, Ajax,
Gen. U. S. Grant, Vulcan,
Ivanhoe, Samson,
Atlas.
The last four names are peculiarly
appropriate to freight engines, which
they are.
Next we find the names of rivers,
etc., in northern Georgia, when we
look over the list, which includes the
j names of,
Nickajack, Etowah,
Chattahoochee, Chickamauga,
Connasauga, Oostanaula.
Then, there are over one hundred
and fifty thousand American soldiers,
or the families of their survivors, who
have recollections of vivid interest
when we mention the name
“KENNESAW.”
This, of course, is for the majestic
mountain at Marietta, where occurred
the tremendous struggle between Sher
man’s and Johnston’s armies during
1864.
We feel like laughing when we see
the names of the two switch engines,
the
Mark Tapley and Sam Weller,
which work in the Atlanta yards all
the time. “Mark” does his duty in
the lower yard and is not often seen
east of Forsyth street crossing; but old
“Sam” has gotten to be a very familiar
character around about the Union Pas
senger Depot and all that portion of
the city.
There isanirresistably ludicrous feel
ing which arises in the mind when one
of the beautiful mail trains of the
Western & Atlantic with its fine, trim
built passenger locomotive glides into
the Union Depot, and almost imme
diately succeeding, we hear the clang
ing of the tremendous bell whose
sounds wake the air for more than a
half mile distant, and then comes old
“Sam, ’ black and sooty and puffing
like a porpoise, down to the rear, to
i pull the train back into the yard af
ter the passengers have debarked.
Frequently we see this pondrous lo
comotive humorist bellowing like a
. clown in a circus, and as awkward as
' an elephant, following a train which
has just come in, and dragging behind
him the cars of the train which has to
go out within the next hour or two
and there he is, sandwiched between
the two beautiful trains, just as though
there was an intentional contrast to
emphasize the difference between the
sooty engine and the palace car.
“Sam Weller” and “Mark Tapley”
were rich characters in the books; but
they were hardly more so than their
namesakes are in the railroad part of
Atlanta.
A gentleman was telling us a short
time ago that his little boy kept a close
watch of all the engines which entered
the Union Passenger Depot, and said
that he liked the “Sam Weller” better
than any of them; but asked him one
day:
“Why is it, papa, that they don’t
rub the soot and mud off of old “Sam”
and make him look as bright and pret
ty as those engines that pull passenger
trains? He is a heap stronger than
they are, and I think he’s a better en
gine.”
His father answered that he sup
posed that old “Sam” had to work all
day and all night, and, therefore, did’nt
have time to wash his face like the
pretty passenger engines did,
This reply quieted the youngster;
■ but he still seemed to have a lingering
feeling of certainty that “Sam” wasn’t
treated fairly.
Some of the locomotives of the West
ern & Atlantic Railroad have been in
i
i the service of the company quite a
number of years, and it is remarkable
how great are the contrasts between
them.
Some of these have great power and
do not stait very quickly; but can
pull a pile when they do get started.
Others are what the engineers term
“smart engines;” that is, they get up
steam quickly, start off with a run
right from the beginning, and can al
ways be depended upon for quick
movement at short warning.
The “J. W. Lewis” used to be con
sidered the “smartest engine” on the
road; but it is said that the “Gen.
Wm. Macßae” is now considered at the
head of the list; and this is peculiarly
appropriate, as Gen. Macßae, him
self, the former General Manager of
the W. &A. R. R., was one of the
quickest men in arriving at a mental
conclusion and acting thereupon, who
ever lived in Georgia.
Among the other engines on the
road we might name the,
Chickasaw, Senator,
Commerce, Enterprise,
L. J. Gartrell,
all of which are on the old list, but
which still do good service.
The engineers on the Western & At
lantic Railroad are trained up to their
tasks from boyhood, and as each one
understands his engine thoroughly, is
able, consequently, to do more with
her than a new hand could.
It is a fact which has been frequent
ly noted that the W. & A. engin
eers seem to be able to move more busi
ness with engines of equal capacity
than probably any other engineers in
Georgia or in the south.
We shall have more to say on this
subject in future; but merely started
out to emphasize our preference for re
taining the names of engines instead of
merely numbering them.
The Western and Atlantic railroad
runs more passenger trains over the
same rails than any other railroad in
the South.