A Visit to the General

Kennesaw, Georgia, is the home of the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.  Among other things it contains perhaps the most famous engine in U.S. history, so it's well worth a visit.  This museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian, and therefore has a very professional ambiance.  As you would expect it's clean and well laid out, with good information, dim religious lighting, and signs prohibiting flash photography.

The museum is of modest size and is divided into sections with different subjects.  First, there is some general Civil War history, including displays of weapons, uniforms, items about the progress of the war, freeing the slaves, and so forth.

The "locomotive history" part of the museum is pretty much confined to the Civil War period.  There are some exhibits of various railroad artifacts from that period.

Another part of the museum is devoted to the Glover Machine Works, which was located nearby in Marietta, and which manufactured locomotives and many other types of machinery.  All of this material was saved when the plant was demolished many years ago, although it's just a small part of the total.

I like the way the floor is decorated here.  We should reproduce this in our Entrance Building.

Finally, of course, the major focus of the museum is the Great Locomotive Chase, which started just across the street.  In 1862, the town of Kennesaw was known as Big Shanty, and Andrews' Raiders met here to make history.  There's a theater showing a 30-minute video re-enactment of the raid, which is historically accurate and not to be confused with the Disney movie starring Fess Parker, though it was my favorite movie when I was about eight.

Everyone connected with the raid on one side or the other is memorialized here:

And the General itself is on display in the hall.  Of course, this is almost entirely a replica -- very little of the original fabric of the locomotive is left.  Exactly what might be original seems to be a matter of dispute, and I haven't taken the time to study up on the controversy in detail.  But the locomotive was last rebuilt for use in the centennial celebrations of 1962, and has been on static display ever since, I believe.

And then there's a balcony from which you can look down on the engine.

Notice anything unusual about this passenger car?

Across the street is an old wooden depot.  I could not find any information about the history of this building, and the museum was already closed so there was no one to ask, but I'm sure this is of post-war construction.  Whatever was located here in 1862 was probably destroyed during the Atlanta Campaign.