Death Takes its Toll

DEATH TAKES ITS TOLL

The year 1905 took its toll from both sides...John A. Wilson died and was buried in Union Hill Cemetery, Wood County, Ohio, and his gravestone makes no reference to the Andrews Raid. In Atlanta, death claimed William Allen Fuller and his gravestone in Oakland Cemetery bears the following record:

On April 12, 1862, Captain Fuller pursued and after a race of 90 miles from Big Shanty northward on the Western & Atlantic Railroad, recaptured the historic war-engine "General" which had been seized by 22 Federal soldiers in disguise, thereby preventing destruction of the bridges of the railroad and the consequent dismemberment of the Confederacy.

William A. Fuller about 1890.

After the war, Captain Fuller continued with the Western & Atlantic Railroad in the capacity of conductor and later served as General Freight and Passenger Agent for the Macon & Western Railroad. He engaged in the mercantile business and later in real estate. He was very active in civic affairs and was one of the founders of the Pioneer Citizens Society of Atlanta.

During the week of September 17, 1906, the survivors of the Andrews Raid held their final reunion in Chattanooga. Those present at this last muster were: Daniel A. Dorsey, John R. Porter, Jacob Parrott, William J. Knight, and William Bensinger. Still living but unable to be present were Wilson W. Brown and Samuel Llewellyn. Also present were Anthony Murphy and William A. Fuller of Atlanta. The latter represented his father who had passed away a few months earlier. One of the highlights of this occasion was the making of a photograph of the group in front of the old locomotive General under the vaulted roof of Union Station where the engine stood on display for so many years.

William J. Knight, standing near stack; left to right: Porter, unknown, unknown, Parrott, Mrs. Knight, Mrs. Parrott, Charles H. Bensinger, Bensinger, Murphy, and Daniel A. Dorsey.

Photographed in the Chattanooga Car Barn

In mid-September, 1906, the last reunion of participants in the Andrews Raid was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was sponsored by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway and held in conjunction with the reunion of the Society of Army of the Cumberland. This photo was taken on September 19 at 9:15 AM in front of the Ohio Monument to the Andrews Raiders. From the left in front: John R. Porter (who overslept and missed the entire event), Mrs. Knight, William J. Knight, Jacob Parrott, Mrs. Parrott, Daniel A. Dorsey, and Henry Haney (as a 15 year old boy, served on the crew of the Texas as a fireman). In the back are: William Bensinger, William A. Fuller, Charles Bensinger, and Anthony J. Murphy (one of the pursuers). Fuller had died the year before, and Wilson W. Brown and and Peter Bracken were still living at the time, but did not attend. Porter was the last survivor of the Raid, dying in 1923. Haney was the last Confederate survivor, also dying in 1923.

In 1908, Jacob Parrott died and was buried in Kenton, Ohio. An inscription on his gravestone reads as follows: "Lieut. Parrott was honored by Congress with the first medal issued for distinguished bravery." In the following year, 1909, Anthony Murphy died in Atlanta and was buried in Oakland Cemetery. Murphy was a native of Ireland and was only nine years of age when his parents emigrated to this country. They lived in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and it was there that young Murphy received his education and learned the machinist trade. It was this training that brought him to Atlanta to work for the Western & Atlantic Railroad. After the war he served for several terms on the City Council and is credited with inaugurating the waterworks movement in Atlanta.

The year 1909 also claimed Peter J. Bracken, who had been the engineer of the Texas during her famous run backwards on April 12. He was buried in Macon, Georgia.

Samuel Llewellyn, one of the least known of the raiders and one to whom the Medal of Honor was never awarded, died in 1915 while living at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home at Sandusky. He was buried at Coalton, Ohio. The year 1916 was a critical one in that it took both of the engineers of the raiding party and was also the year that the examining board of review of past awards of the Medal of Honor reported their actions. This board carefully examined the 2,625 awards of the medal made to that time. It found 911 past awards which it regarded as failing to meet the newly established requirements. Accordingly, these 911 names were struck from the Country's Medal of Honor Roll. Fortunately for the Andrews Raiders, their claims to the Medal were found valid and their names remained on the official Roll.

William J. Knight and Wilson W. Brown, both engineers on the raid, died in 1916. Brown was buried in New Belleville Ridge Cemetery, Wood County, Ohio, and Knight was buried at Stryker, Ohio. On Knight's gravestone this line is inscribed: "Engineer of Andrews Raid in Georgia, APR 12, 1862."

In 1918, two more of the raiders passed on. Daniel A. Dorsey died at the Veteran's Home in Wadsworth, Kansas, and was buried in the cemetery there. William Bensinger died and was buried at McComb, Ohio.

John Reed Porter was the last survivor of the raiding party. He died in 1923 and was buried at McComb, Ohio. In the same year, another participant in the Great Locomotive Chase died, Henry P. Haney. He had left the service of the railroad following the war and spent many years with the Atlanta Fire Department. He was buried in Atlanta at Casey's Hill Cemetery. Haney, though not quite sixteen years of age at the time of the raid, served as Bracken's fireman on the Texas during the pursuit of the General.

Captain William J. Whitsett, 1904, who, with other members of the 1st Georgia, joined the chase at Calhoun aboard another locomotive, the Catoosa, that uncoupled its cars and sped off backwards behind the Texas after a hasty explanation had been shouted from Fuller. At Ringgold, Whitsett spread the alarm and an improvised posse on horseback and afoot, helped round up the fleeing raiders.