Breakfast Stop...Big Shanty

When the train stopped and the call came, "Big Shanty! Twenty minutes for breakfast!" the conductor, engineer, fireman, and most of the passengers quickly covered the 40 feet over from the tracks to the porch of the Lacy Hotel (no longer standing).

Eating establishments along the railroad were as necessary as they were along stagecoach routes. The Lacy Hotel at Big Shanty was built by the W&ARR during the mid-1850's. It was leased to Lon Kendrick who operated it for awhile, and in 1859 subleased it to George M. Lacy who, with his family, operated it until forced to abandon the place in 1864, as Sherman's forces approached the Kennesaw Mountain front.

The hotel consisted of four rooms, two each above and below, a wide hall and stairs, a chimney at each end, and a porch of two levels. The kitchen was in a separate, one-story structure adjacent to the dining room. A picket fence enclosed the front yard except for a passageway from trackside to the entrance steps. On entering, the passengers encountered Mr. Lacy, who sat at the seat of custom with a bag of silver for change. Breakfast was 25› for grits, ham with red gravy, eggs, hot biscuits, flapjacks with butter, sorghum, and coffee.

The General's crew and most of the passengers seated themselves in Lacy's dining room, anticipating a pleasant, hearty breakfast.

Meanwhile, some of the passengers had remained outside. Andrews moved cautiously alongside the train toward the locomotive. With him were Knight, Brown, and John A. Wilson, all experienced locomotive engineers. Knight hoisted himself onto the locomotive. He seized the throttle with nervous hands, keeping his eyes on Andrews. Other Raiders sneaked behind the last box car and released the coupling. Andrews gave a signal and the other 16 Raiders raced forward and threw themselves into the empty box car. Andrews swung aboard the General and nodded to Knight, and The Great Locomotive Chase was on.

Knight yanked the throttle and for an instant nothing happened. In his excitement he had thrown the power on too abruptly and made the driver wheels spin on the tracks. Sparks flew. Steam hissed beneath the engine. But shortly the wheels bit the rails and the train lurched away, gathering speed.

Drawing of the Lacy Hotel by Wilbur G. Kurtz

It all happened so suddenly that none of the nearby soldiers at Camp McDonald had time to appraise the situation, raise their muskets, or give an alarm.

Meanwhile, Conductor Fuller, sitting at the breakfast table with Jeff Cain and Anthony Murphy, happened to glance out the window. He spied the strangers who had boarded at Marietta.

They had swung aboard his locomotive; smoke was belching from the stack. His horror grew as the locomotive chugged from the depot. "Someone who has no right to has gone off with our train!" he shouted.

All three of the trainmen jumped to their feet and hurried from the hotel just as the train passed from sight.

The Raiders had hardly escaped from Big Shanty before the General began to slow down. Knight was compelled to bring it to a dead stop. It was soon discovered that a damper had been left closed, causing a loss of boiler pressure. The General was virtually out of steam. Within minutes the fire was roaring again and steam pressure was on the rise. The General jerked and chugged toward running speed for what would be a thrilling chase of some 87 miles along the winding course of the W&ARR.