Next CWRT covers 'Great Locomotive Chase'
Paul Siedel
The Wayne County Civil War Round Table program will continue Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m., featuring Paul Siedel presenting “The Great Locomotive Chase.” The program is free and will be at the Wayne County Historical Society schoolhouse located on the WCHS campus at 546 E. Bowman St. in Wooster.
“The Great Locomotive Chase” follows the daring raid of April 1862, an attempt to cut the rail and telegraph connections from Atlanta to Chattanooga as well as the idea, the organization and the failed attempt to carry it out along the tracks of the Great Western and Atlantic R.R. in Northern Georgia. This very colorful and daring raid was carried out by soldiers from all parts of Ohio.
One of the raiders, Pvt. William Knight, was born and raised in Apple Creek. The Medal of Honor was created to memorialize the participants of the raid, and all surviving members were awarded the medal in 1863. Two were left out, and they were awarded the medal in 2024. Seven of the raiders were hung in Atlanta in 1862, several escaped, and the rest were exchanged back to the U.S. in 1863 and were awarded the medal then. The first recipient of the medal was Jacob Parrott, who is today buried in Kenton, Ohio.
Siedel is a member of three area Civil War Round Tables and serves as a trustee of Woodland Cemetery, the final resting place of many of Cleveland’s Civil War figures. Siedel has been a teacher since 1972 at the elementary and middle school levels and continues to substitute teach today.
Parking for the event is available onsite — enter from the Spink Street entrance — and along the fence in the Drug Mart parking lot. For more information about the Wayne County Historical Society, visit waynehistoricalohio.org.
For questions call Penny Gasbarre at 330-845-3069 or email her at pennygasbarre@gmail.com.