Chosen by James Andrews for his abilities as a locomotive engineer, as he had been an engineer on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad before the war, he took part in the Andrews' Raid (Great Locomotive Chase) in April 1862.
Brown maintained a friendship with Captain William A. Fuller, the General's engineer, and traveled with other raiders to Atlanta for reunions, on railroad passes issued by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, successor to the Western & Atlantic [REF].