I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 763
To posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to James
J. Andrews and William H. Campbell in recognition of their extraor-
dinary bravery and steadfast devotion to the Nation during the Civil
War as the only civilian members of Andrews’ Raiders, who launched
a daring military raid that became known as the ‘‘Great Locomotive
Chase’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. F
LEISCHMANNintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal, col-
lectively, to James J. Andrews and William H. Campbell
in recognition of their extraordinary bravery and stead-
fast devotion to the Nation during the Civil War as
the only civilian members of Andrews’ Raiders, who
launched a daring military raid that became known as
the ‘‘Great Locomotive Chase’’.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘James J. Andrews and 2
William H. Campbell Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4
Congress finds the following: 5
(1) James J. Andrews was born in Holiday’s 6
Cove, Virginia (now Weirton, West Virginia), in 7
1829. He eventually moved to Kentucky. During the 8
Civil War, Andrews served as a civilian spy for the 9
Union Army and was the leader and organizer of 10
Andrews’ Raiders. 11
(2) William Hunter Campbell, born in Carroll 12
County, Ohio, on September 9, 1839, was a unique 13
addition to the raid. In 1862, he was visiting friends 14
with the 2d Ohio Infantry in Kentucky when he was 15
unexpectedly recruited for a daring mission. 16
(3) On March 25, 1862, James J. Andrews de-17
veloped a plan to cut off the Western and Atlantic 18
Rail Line supply line from Marietta, Georgia, to 19
Chattanooga, Tennessee, to allow the Union Army to 20
attack and occupy the city. Andrews presented the 21
plan to General Buell and General O.M. Mitchell, 22
commanding the Union Army in North Alabama. 23
The plan was accepted, and Andrews gathered 22 24
Union soldiers from 3 Ohio Regiments (2d Ohio In-25
fantry, 21st Ohio Infantry, 33d Ohio Infantry). The 26
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plan was to work from northern Alabama in small 1
groups, dressed in civilian clothes, and reach Mari-2
etta, Georgia, to gather and steal a train. They were 3
to run the train toward Chattanooga, cut the tele-4
graph lines, tear up railroad tracks, and, if possible, 5
burn the bridges. This would cut off all troop move-6
ment and supplies from getting to Chattanooga. The 7
capture of Chattanooga early in the war would cut 8
off essential supplies and food from getting up to 9
Virginia and the Confederate Army there. 10
(4) On April 12, 1862, 24 volunteers from the 11
Union Army, led by civilian scout James J. An-12
drews, commandeered a Confederate locomotive 13
named the ‘‘General’’ outside of Big Shanty, Geor-14
gia (now Kennesaw), and took it northward toward 15
Chattanooga, Tennessee, doing as much damage as 16
possible to the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad 17
line as they went. Out of fuel, Andrews and his men 18
abandoned the locomotive and scattered into the 19
woods before being captured by Confederate troops. 20
(5) All captured were put on trial and convicted 21
for acts of ‘‘unlawful belligerency’’ or being unlawful 22
combatants and spies. Shortly after that, Andrews 23
and 7 of the Raiders were executed by hanging, with 24
the remaining held as prisoners-of-war. Andrews’ 25
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body was taken down from the scaffold and buried. 1
On October 16, 1887, his remains were recovered 2
and taken to their final resting place at Chattanooga 3
National Cemetery. 4
(6) William H. Campbell was hung with 6 of 5
the military men on June 18, 1862. In April 1866, 6
these men were relocated and interred in Chat-7
tanooga National Cemetery. 8
(7) On March 25, 1863, 6 members of An-9
drews’ Raiders were awarded the first Medals of 10
Honor in our Nation’s history. Ultimately, 21 of the 11
24 members of Andrews’ Raiders would receive the 12
Medal of Honor for their actions on that day. On 13
July 3rd, 2024, President Biden awarded the most 14
recent Medals of Honor to members of Andrews’ 15
Raiders, stating ‘‘Their heroic deeds went 16
unacknowledged for over a century, but time did not 17
erase their valor’’. 18
(8) Chattanooga, Tennessee, is recognized as 19
the birthplace of the Medal of Honor. 20
(9) In 1956, Walt Disney made a movie about 21
Andrews’ Raiders’ exploits called ‘‘The Great Loco-22
motive Chase’’, starring Fess Parker as Andrews. 23
Buster Keaton’s 1927 feature-length comedy mas-24
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terpiece ‘‘The General’’ was loosely based on the in-1
cident. 2
(10) Today, the hijacked locomotive, ‘‘General’’, 3
is on display at The Southern Museum in Kennesaw, 4
Georgia. ‘‘Texas’’, the locomotive used to give chase, 5
is on display at the Atlanta History Center in At-6
lanta, Georgia. 7
(11) The civilians of the Andrews’ Raiders, 8
James J. Andrews and William Hunter Campbell, 9
acted with extraordinary bravery and unwavering de-10
votion to their Nation as they attempted to turn the 11
tide of the Civil War. 12
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 13
(a) P
RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 14
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-15
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 16
for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a single 17
gold medal of appropriate design collectively in commemo-18
ration of James J. Andrews and William H. Campbell, in 19
recognition of their extraordinary bravery and steadfast 20
devotion to the Nation during the Civil War as the only 21
civilian members of Andrews’ Raiders, who launched a 22
daring military raid that became known as the ‘‘Great Lo-23
comotive Chase’’. 24
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(b) DESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 1
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 2
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-3
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 4
devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec-5
retary. 6
(c) S
MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 8
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 9
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 10
it shall be available for display as appropriate and 11
made available for research. 12
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 13
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 14
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 15
available for— 16
(A) display, particularly at the Charles H. 17
Coolidge National Medal of Honor Museum; 18
and 19
(B) loan, as appropriate, so that the medal 20
may be displayed elsewhere. 21
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 22
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 23
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 24
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a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 1
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 2
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 3
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 4
Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 5
31, United States Code. 6
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 7
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 8
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 9
items. 10
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 11
SALE. 12
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 13
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 14
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-15
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 16
this Act. 17
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 18
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 19
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 20
Enterprise Fund. 21
Æ
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