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| Add Photo — Add Link — Add Commentary — Correct this page — Print | | Chattanooga in Hamilton County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central) |
Swaim's Jail
Confining Andrew's Raiders
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By Judith Barber, January 14, 2012 | |
| | | 1. Swaim's Jail Marker | | |
Inscription. Swaim’s Jail, a small two-story brick building set into the side of the slope and surrounded by a high board fence, stood across the street. Confederate authorities held Andrew’s Raiders there after their capture in April 1862. James J. Andrews, 22 soldiers from three Ohio infantry regiments, and a civilian names William Gunter Campbell stole a locomotive called The General of Big Shanty (present day Kennesaw), Georgia and traveled toward Chattanooga. They planned to disrupt Confederate communications by destroying Western and Atlantic Railroad bridges and cutting telegraph wires. Conductor William Allen Fuller led a close pursuit, and the raiders could not carry out their plan. They ran out of fuel north of Ringgold, Georgia, abandoned the engine, fled into the countryside around Chattanooga, and were soon captured.
The raiders were confined in the jail’s basement, only 13 square feet and accessed through a trap door and down a ladder. A raider wrote, “Though the night was cool outside, the heat here was more than that of a tropic noon and the perspiration soon oozed from every pore. The fetid air and the stench made me for a time deadly sick, and worst of all, there was an almost unbearable sense of suffocation.”
A Confederate court found Andrews guilty of spying and hanged him in Atlanta on June 7, | | | | 
By Dale K. Benington, August 1, 2012 | |
| | | 2. Swaim's Jail Marker | | Close-up view of the picture of "Swaim's Jail" that is displayed on the historic marker. | | |
1862. On June 18, seven other raiders were also hanged. Eight others later escaped to the North. The last six raiders were exchanged as prisoners of war on March 17, 1863. Chattanooga National Cemetery contains the 1890 Ohio memorial to Andrew’s Raiders.
Erected by Tennessee Civil War Trails.
Marker series. This marker is included in the Tennessee Civil War Trails marker series.
Location. 35° 3.099′ N, 85° 18.381′ W. Marker is in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in Hamilton County. Marker is on Lookout Street. Click for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 450 Lookout Street, Chattanooga TN 37403, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Chattanooga's First School (within shouting distance of this marker); Ernest Walter Holmes, Sr. (approx. 0.2 miles away); Chattanooga Daily Rebel (approx. 0.2 miles away); William (Uncle Bill) Lewis (approx. 0.3 miles away); William "Uncle Bill" Lewis (approx. 0.3 miles away); Headquarters Row (approx. 0.3 miles away); G. W. Franklin (approx. 0.3 miles away); First Coca-Cola Bottling Company In The United States (approx. 0.4 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Chattanooga. |
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By Dale K. Benington, August 1, 2012 | |
| | | 3. Swaim's Jail Marker | | View of the historic marker and the background area. | | |
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By Dale K. Benington, August 1, 2012 | |
| | | 4. Swaim's Jail Marker | | View of the historic marker looking south along Lookout Street. | | |
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By Dale K. Benington, August 1, 2012 | |
| | | 5. Swaim's Jail Marker | | View of the historic marker looking north along Lookout Street. | | |
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By Dale K. Benington, August 1, 2012 | |
| | | 6. Swaim's Jail Marker | | View of the backside of the historic marker in the left foreground and the original location of the jail in the background. | | |
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Credits. This page originally submitted on January 17, 2012, by Judith Barber of Marietta, Georgia. This page has been viewed 202 times since then. Photos: 1. submitted on January 17, 2012, by Judith Barber of Marietta, Georgia. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on September 2, 2012, by Dale K. Benington of Toledo, Ohio. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.
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