The General is a 1926 American silent slapstick Western action comedy film released by United Artists. It was inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during the American Civil War. The story was adapted from the 1889 memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film stars Buster Keaton, who also co-directed it along with Clyde Bruckman.
Keaton riding the cowcatcher
Keaton brought 18 freight cars of props and set materials to Oregon.
A mural commemorating the film in Cottage Grove, Oregon, where much of it was filmed in the summer of 1926
A 2006 screening with live music. Since its initial failure, the film has become regarded as a classic and one of Keaton's best.
The Great Locomotive Chase was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the Union Army, led by civilian scout James J. Andrews, commandeered a train, The General, and took it northward toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, doing as much damage as possible to the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&A) line from Atlanta to Chattanooga as they went. They were pursued by Confederate forces at first on foot, and later on a succession of locomotives, including The Texas, for 87 miles (140 km).
The Andrews Raiders set a train car on fire to try to ignite a covered railway bridge and thwart Confederate pursuit.
James J. Andrews
This section of the Norfolk Southern Railway was originally part of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad
Illustration of nineteen men involved in the Great Locomotive Chase—seventeen Union soldiers and two railroad employees who chased them
