Casey Jones and the Cannonball Wreck: Story and Facts

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Casey Jones and the Cannonball Wreck is a Tennessee story with a documented core at Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum, Jackson, Madison County. The sources are named below.

HistoryKind of story
3Named sources
Memphis & West TennesseeRegion
Oct 30Checked, 2026

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Casey Jones and The Cannonball Wreck

People say engineer Casey Jones of Jackson was running a late night passenger train in April 1900 when he saw a stalled freight ahead near Vaughan, Mississippi. He told his fireman to jump, held the brake, and gave his own life to save the passengers. A railroad worker named Wallace Saunders is said to have made up the first song about it, and the ballad carried the story across the country.

What The Record Shows

The Tennessee Encyclopedia entry on Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones documents that he was born March 14, 1863, that the Mobile and Ohio moved him to Jackson, Tennessee, where he married Janie Brady in 1886, and that in January 1900 he was put on a passenger run between Memphis and Canton, Mississippi, part of the Cannonball Express linking Chicago and New Orleans. It dates the wreck to April 30, 1900, near Vaughn, Mississippi (spelled Vaughan by the Library of Congress), after a stalled freight blocked the main line. Jones stayed at the controls, his fireman Sim Webb jumped and lived, and Jones was the only person killed. The Library of Congress blog says Jones and Webb took over the late night run on April 29, already about ninety-five minutes late, in rain, and that the train hit the stalled train at Vaughan. Sources differ on what happened in the cab. The Tennessee Encyclopedia says the Illinois Central said crews were warned, while Webb maintained they saw no signals. The Library of Congress says the railroad inquiry blamed Jones for not slowing for a flagman, and that arguments persist over whether he could have seen the flagman in the rain and fog. On the ballad, the Library of Congress blog says some lyrics have been attributed to Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the Illinois Central, but that the exact words of his song are not known, and that early versions are matter-of-fact while later ones add details such as an important passenger and Jones going to heaven; it notes the fireman is usually called Jim in the song, not Sim. The Tennessee Encyclopedia says Saunders, at the Canton roundhouse, wrote the first verses, that Lawrence Seibert and Eddie Newton altered the lyrics and copyrighted a version in 1909, and that the songs often misrepresent the facts. The museum's own site calls its house the original 1870s home of Casey Jones and lists the exhibit hall, the home and Engine 382. The museum's pages on the wreck or ballad are not confirmed; check with the museum.

Sources

A Note

The wreck happened at Vaughan, Mississippi; Jackson, Tennessee is where the Casey Jones museum stands. Who first made the song is shown as attributed, not proven.

Its home: Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum. Official page.

On this site: Historic Sites, Tennessee History Timeline.

Looked for and Not Found

The museum's own account of the wreck or the ballad: its home page does not mention either.
Where Jones is buriedThe Tennessee Encyclopedia entry we read does not say, so we do not state it.
A single agreed wreck dateThe Tennessee Encyclopedia says April 30, the Library of Congress says the run began April 29.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the story of Casey Jones and the Cannonball Wreck true?

Is this a legend?

It is a story with a documented core. The facts are listed on this page with their sources.

Where do these facts come from?

From the named sources listed on this page: Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones (Tennessee Encyclopedia, Tennessee Historical Society); The Folklore and Folksong of Trains in America, Part Two (Library of Congress Folklife blog); Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum (official site).

Sources

Read on October 30, 2026. Stories are for fun; the facts come from these sources. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? tell us.

Cite this page: It's Tennessee, “Casey Jones and The Cannonball Wreck”, itstennessee.com/legends/casey-jones-cannonball-jackson/ (updated 2026-11-01). By the It's Tennessee editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.

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