Lovers of historical fiction will find much to ponder in the 1863 Confederate siege of Knoxville, Tennessee. President Lincoln considered Union victory there a key to winning the Civil War. The siege and its battle of Fort Sanders involved some of the warâs most famous personalities and units. They are brought to life from available histories, diaries and memoirs: Gen. James Longstreet (Gen. Leeâs âWarhorseâ) and his First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginiaâincluding Barksdaleâs Mississippi Brigade, and Parkerâs Boy Battery of the Sixth Virginia Artillery. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, whose Ninth Corps hopes rested with Lt. Samuel Benjaminâs Second U.S. Artillery, and the Seventy-Ninth New York Cameron Highlanders. At stake: Control of the Smoky Mountains railroad hub which produced rifles, ammunition, and clothing for the Confederate armies. Could the Union keep it when the ragged and starving Rebels outnumbered them ten to one?
“Hess’s account of the understudied Knoxville Campaign sheds new light on the generalship of James Longstreet and Ambrose Burnside, as well as such lesser players as Micah Jenkins and Orlando Poe. Both scholars and general readers should welcome it. The scholarship is sound, the research, superb, the writing, excellent.” —Steven E. Woodworth, author of Decision in the Heartland: The Civil War in the West In the fall and winter of 1863, Union General Ambrose Burnside and Confederate General James Longstreet vied for control of the city of Knoxville and with it the railroad that linked the Confederacy east and west. The generals and their men competed, too, for the hearts and minds of the people of East Tennessee. Often overshadowed by the fighting at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, this important campaign has never received a full scholarly treatment. In this landmark book, award-winning historian Earl J. Hess fills a gap in Civil War scholarship—a timely contribution that coincides with and commemorates the sesquicentennial of the Civil War The East Tennessee campaign was an important part of the war in the West. It brought the conflict to Knoxville in a devastating way, forcing the Union defenders to endure two weeks of siege in worsening winter conditions. The besieging Confederates suffered equally from supply shortages, while the civilian population was caught in the middle and the town itself suffered widespread destruction. The campaign culminated in the famed attack on Fort Sanders early on the morning of November 29, 1863. The bloody repulse of Longstreet’s veterans that morning contributed significantly to the unraveling of Confederate hopes in the Western theater of operations. Hess’s compelling account is filled with numerous maps and images that enhance the reader’s understanding of this vital campaign that tested the heart of East Tennessee. The author’s narrative and analysis will appeal to a broad audience, including general readers, seasoned scholars, and new students of Tennessee and Civil War history. The Knoxville Campaign will thoroughly reorient our view of the war as it played out in the mountains and valleys of East Tennessee. EARL J. HESS is Stewart W. McClelland Distinguished Professor in Humanities and an associate professor of history at Lincoln Memorial University. He is the author of nearly twenty books, including The Civil War in the West—Victory and Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi and Lincoln Memorial University and the Shaping of Appalachia.
Two opposing generals and the people of East Tennessee met in the fall of 1863. For James Longstreet, the commander of the Confederate forces, the campaign for Knoxville and East Tennessee marked the nadir of his military career, which climaxed in December 1863, with him submitting a letter of resignation as commander of the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. For Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Federal forces, the campaign demonstrated his leadership and tactical ability following his December 1862 debacle as commander of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. For the region of East Tennessee and Knoxville, the campaign enabled the people to reach the pinnacle they had aspired to since their settlement of the region. They had escaped economic and religious oppression in Europe, negotiated and fought with the Cherokee Indian Nation, created the State of Franklin (which was denied statehood), saw its political power vanish to Middle Tennessee, and was limited in its economic development by the region's landscape.
"What begins here as a scholarly investigation into a Civil War-era fort opens onto a new view of present-day Knoxville, the historic Fort Sanders community adjacent to the University of Tennessee campus, and the city's commemoration and memory of the fort. Using historical-archaeological methods, Terry Faulkner and Charles H. Faulkner uncover remnants of the fort, exposing a small error in the historic location and present-day commemoration. More importantly, this book is the first scholarly treatment of Fort Sanders and its history since Digby Seymour's 1963 publication Divided Loyalties, and brings the story of Fort Sanders into the twenty-first century"--
Longstreet's Knoxville Campaign had not gone well since it's beginning. His attempt to get to Knoxville before General Ambrose E. Burnside fell short by 15 minutes. His attempt to storm the Federal trenches at Fort Sander's on November 29, 1863 was a catastrophe. With the approach of three Federal columns on Knoxville in early December sealed the fate of the Knoxville Campaign. But on opportunity presented itself to achieve something positive and save face in East Tennessee, and that was Bean's Station 54 miles east of Knoxville. Burnside's Cavalry Corps standing alone and out of reach of Burnside's support was a tempting target that offered Longstreet a victory if he could capture Burnside's horseman camped at Bean's Station. This is the story of Longstreet's attempt to do just that.
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