KENNESAW, Georgia — About 20 Medal of Honor recipients boarded a special passenger train in downtown Kennesaw on Sept. 30 and headed north along a historic rail line that was the scene of one of the Civil War’s most daring exploits.
The historic state-owned Western & Atlantic Railroad, which CSX Transportation leases today, was the scene of the Great Locomotive Chase. Participants in the April 12, 1862, Civil War raid were the first recipients of the Medal of Honor.
The Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society partnered with CSX Transportation to provide the ride, touted as the “first-ever immersive reenactment of the Great Locomotive Chase” from Kennesaw to Ringgold, Georgia. It marked the start of the 2025 Medal of Honor Celebration in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
“Even 11 years now after receiving the Medal of Honor, it’s just for me, individually, it’s a very, very humbling honor,” recipient Kyle Carpender, the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, said before boarding the train. “To be here with my fellow recipients, and to be at this place where the history and the courage and the stories of all of the Medal of Honor recipients that have followed this moment is really just too powerful for words.
“To know that there was a good chance that they would be executed or hanged for their courageous actions, and to move forward anyway with that mission is just — courage like that is what our great nation was built on,” Carpenter said. “And so I’m just so thankful to be here for this historic reenactment, and again, always humbled to be around my Fellow recipients.”
The poignant day began at the Atlanta History Center for a ceremony attended by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. From there, they headed to Kennesaw and the Southern Museum before boarding the special train, which pulled into town shortly before 11 a.m., greeted by a cadre of local residents and railfans.
In several towns along the route, including Cartersville, residents lined the tracks to cheer on the train and its VIPs on board.
“There’s a lot of history here,” Craig Camuso, CSX Transportation’s regional vice president for state government affairs, said. He noted that roughly one in five CSX employees is a military veteran.
“This means an awful lot,” Camuso added. “You look at a line … that was sanctioned by the General Assembly back in 1836 and then, of course, had the history behind the Great Locomotive Chase, and now is still an active rail line that we move about 30-35 freight trains today, there’s a lot of history here.”
Vince Butler, the major gifts officer at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, said that the Confederates were winning the war at the time of the raid. While it was unsuccessful, it “created a ‘Yes, we can do that’ [mindset] to help set the stage of the Chattanooga campaign.”
“The first recipients of the Medal of Honor, which is our country’s highest award for valor on the battlefield, the very first recipients, six of them on March 25, 1863, were six of the 24 Raiders,” Butler said. “Eventually, 21 of the 24 would receive the Medal of Honor. But on March 25, 1863, which is now known as National Medal of Honor Day, the very first medals were awarded in our country’s history.
“And that’s why we say this is so important, because the heritage that was laid down on April 12, 1862, that was awarded on March 25, 1863, created a legacy that we all honor today with every Medal of Honor recipient,” Butler added.
“Well, it’s certainly not lost, the history is not lost on us, which is why we’re just honored to be able to honor them, honor these Medal of Honor recipients, and then also talk about the history of the Civil War with [the] Andrews Raiders,” Camuso added. “It’s a pretty big deal.”
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