The General entered service in the city of Paterson, NJ, in December of 1855. She was then shipped from Philadelphia to Georgia and then by rail to her home, the yard of the Western and Atlantic Railroad in Atlanta. The American 4-4-0 would run on the W&ARR’s 138 miles of track throughout most of her life, mostly on a run between Chattanooga and Atlanta. She became immortalized when on April 12, 1862, 21 Union spies stole The General from Big Shanty and ran her to Ringgold, Georgia. When the General ran out of fuel, the spies hastily disembarked and fled. Unable to move to a side track under her own power, the General got an assist from her ‘sister’ The Texas, who pushed the engine to Greysville for wood and water, then pulled her to Ringgold for repair. After the capture of Andrews’ Raiders in the forests of North Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, The General hauled them back to Atlanta on May 2.