ABSTRACT
Union General Ormsby Mitchel wanted to kidnap a train. Not just any train, but a train running on the Western and Atlantic Railroad. His plan was to hijack a train in the South, and as he drove it north, burn bridges, wreck tracks, and cut telegraph lines. This would cut off an important rail supply line to the South. Without essential food and clothing being shipped to the South, General Mitchel believed the Southerners would be starved into losing the war.
