Overview
As Confederate forces moved toward north Georgia ahead of the Battle of Chickamauga, traffic on the Western & Atlantic Railroad increased. On September 14, 1863, two trains collided on the Etowah Grade, near present-day Emerson, Georgia (reported contemporaneously as “four miles beyond Allatoona” and “near Acworth”). Contemporary accounts identified the locomotives as the Senator and the Chieftain. One of the trains was carrying Confederate troops, including the 10th Tennessee Regiment, 1st Tennessee Battalion, and 50th Tennessee Regiment.
Newspapers reported that between 10 and 15 soldiers were killed and 30 to 60 wounded, though casualty figures varied among early accounts. The collision temporarily blocked one of the Confederacy’s most important rail corridors at a critical moment in the Chickamauga Campaign and highlighted both the strategic importance of the Western & Atlantic and the operational challenges of moving large numbers of troops and supplies during wartime.
Quick Facts
- Date
- Sept. 14, 1863