About the Authors of "The General and The Texas"

Stan Cohen

is a native of Charleston, West Virginia, and a graduate of West Virginia University with a BS degree in geology. He established Pictorial Histories Publishing Company in 1976 with his first book, The Civil War in West Virginia, A Pictorial History. Since then he has authored or co-authored 66 books and published over 200. He moved to Missoula, Montana in 1961 to work for the US Forest Service and has been a full time author/publisher since 1980. He lives in Missoula with his wife, Anne, but maintains an office in Charleston and travels extensively throughout the country, selling and researching new books.

Colonel James G. Bogle

US Army, retired, is a native of Tennessee and has been a resident of Atlanta since 1956. He retired from the US Army in 1967 with over 31 years of service. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal with one Battle Star. He served in the South Pacific during World War II and later in Korea during the Korean War. He graduated form the Army Transportation School, the Command and General Staff College, and the Armed Forces Staff College, while in the service, and also holds a degree from Georgia State University of Atlanta. His active service includes six years on the Army General Staff. Following his retirement from the US Army, Colonel Bogle served as administrative aide to the Director of the Georgia Historical Commission for five years.

Colonel Bogle became interested in the Great Locomotive Chase or the Story of the General in his early years. His father was a long time employee of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, which for many years had custody of the locomotive General, and went to great effort to publicize the story of the old locomotive and the men involved with it. Thus he started early collecting material relating to the Raid, learning all that he could about it, and seeking to solve some of the mysteries pertaining to the story. He has written several articles dealing with the men and the locomotives. They have been published in Railroad History, The Atlanta Historical Journal, and The Landmarker.

In 1971, he was instrumental in securing a marker for the grave of Peter James Bracken, the engineer of the locomotive Texas during the Chase. In 1980, he assisted in the location and erection of a marker in Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, indicating the site where seven of Andrews Raiders were executed in 1862. In 1982, he supervised the restoration of the locomotive Texas on display in Atlanta's famous Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta. He also prevailed upon State authorities to erect an historical marker at the site in Atlanta of the execution of James J. Andrews. In 1983, he assisted in locating the final resting place of James Ovid Smith, one of the Raiders, and helped solve one of the remaining major mysteries dealing with the Raid.

Colonel Bogle is very interested in Civil War history, railroad history, and local history. He is a life member of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, a long time member and past president of the Atlanta Civil War Roundtable, a charter member and past president of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. He is also an active member of several other historical societies including the Atlanta Historical Society, the DeKalb Historical Society, the Georgia Historical Society, and the Tennessee Historical Society.

Wilbur G. Kurtz (left) and James G. Bogle at the Ohio Memorial to the Andrews Raiders, National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Tennessee, September 15, 1965.