Raiders Hung

In the columns of the Southern Confederacy for Thursday, June 19, 1862, was the following:

HUNG

Yesterday afternoon seven more of the engine thieves were hung near this city. They were a portion of the twenty-four that arrived here in strings a few days ago. They are all Ohioans. We have not learned their names.

Execution of the seven Andrews Raiders near Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia, June 18, 1862. George D. Wilson is holding his right hand up and making a speech.

Drawing from Capturing A Locomotive by William Pittenger

Click on picture to see a larger version.

With these 41 words, seven men met their fate on the afternoon of June 18, 1862, at the southeast corner of Fair Street and South Park Avenue, across from Oakland Cemetery. On this same date, the Post of Atlanta acquired a new Provost Marshal. Colonel Jones was relieved by Captain Green J. Foreacre, and one of his first jobs was to handle this execution.

Many years later, Wilbur G. Kurtz sought the precise place where these seven men had been hanged. It was in 1906 on one of his early visits to Atlanta, and he had interviewed several eyewitnesses. Their accounts were carefully noted, but still there was doubt. James Bell, a long time Atlanta resident, was assisting Mr. Kurtz in his research, and he was not satisfied at this point either. Then Bell remembered James McClellan, who was present at the execution and who had lived and worked in the neighborhood afterwards and consequently would be familiar with the environs. James McClellan was located and taken to the area. With no hesitation at all, McClellan walked to a spot in low ground, in the southwest angle of Fair Street and South Park Avenue. In 1906 this lot had not filled in as it is now. The original grade was considerably lower than either street, and the trace of a stream bed was still visable. McClellan stated that the sevenfold execution took place on a scaffold which paralleled the little stream, and that the seven men, when aligned on the trap, all faced southeast. McClellan then pointed out the spot nearby where the seven men had been buried:

Sergeant Major Marion A. Ross, 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Private George D. Wilson, Company B, 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Private Charles P. Shadrach, Company K, 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Sergeant John M. Scott, Company F, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Private Samuel Slavens, Company E, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Private Samuel Robertson, Company G, 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

William Campbell, civilian