Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor of Patterson, New Jersey, built The General for $8,850. It entered service on the Western & Atlantic Railroad in January 1856.
It is most famous as the locomotive a group of Union spies stole from Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), Georgia, on April 12, 1862. In 1864, the locomotive sustained heavy damage during Gen. William T. Sherman’s march to Atlanta.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad refurbished the General to working order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great Locomotive Chase in 1962.
In 1972, the railroad gave the 4-4-0 engine to the city of Kennesaw. It was displayed in the Kennesaw Civil War Museum, later renovated and renamed the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.
Today, the historical engine is the centerpiece of the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.
