General Ormsby
Mitchel CDV Full standing pose holding his hat from
life. He commanded the Department of the Ohio from September to December
1861. During this time he conspired with espionage agent James J. Andrews
on plans to steal a train in Georgia and disrupt a railroad vital to the
Confederate States Army coincident with Mitchel's planned attack on
Chattanooga. The raid failed, as did Mitchel's military operation.
Andrews and a number of his men were captured. Andrews was among eight
men who were tried in Chattanooga and hanged in Atlanta by Confederate
forces. Although a military failure, the story of Andrew's raid became
known to American history as the Great Locomotive Chase, and has been retold in
publications and film. General Mitchel led a division of the Army of the Ohio
from December 1861 to July 1862, and was placed in charge of the defense of
Nashville. He became famous when he seized the city of Huntsville, Alabama in
April 1862 without a shot being fired, after he led his troops there from
Shelbyville with a surprise maneuver. He was promoted to major general for his
efforts. No back mark.