Fort Sanders
Fort Loudon Tennessee


American Civil War
November 29, 1863

In attempting to take Knoxville, the Confederates decided that Fort Sanders was the only vulnerable place where they could penetrate Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside's fortifications, which enclosed the city, and successfully conclude the siege, already a week long. The fort surmounted an eminence just northwest of Knoxville.

Northwest of the fort, the land dropped off abruptly. Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet believed he could assemble a storming party, undetected at night, below the fortifications and, before dawn, overwhelm Fort Sanders by a coup de main. Following a brief artillery barrage directed at the fort's interior, three Rebel brigades charged.

Union wire entanglements-–telegraph wire stretched from one tree stump to another to another-–delayed the attack, but the fort's outer ditch halted the Confederates. This ditch was twelve feet wide and from four to ten feet deep with vertical sides. The fort's exterior slope was almost vertical, also. Crossing the ditch was nearly impossible, especially under withering defensive fire from musketry and canister. 

Confederate officers did lead their men into the ditch, but, without scaling ladders, few emerged on the scarp side and a small number entered the fort to be wounded, killed, or captured. The attack lasted a short twenty minutes. Longstreet undertook his Knoxville expedition to divert Union troops from Chattanooga and to get away from General Braxton Bragg, with whom he was engaged in a bitter feud. His failure to take Knoxville scuttled his purpose.

This was the decisive battle of the Knoxville Campaign. This Confederate defeat, plus the loss of Chattanooga on November 25, put much of East Tennessee in the Union camp.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: Knox County

Campaign: Knoxville Campaign (1863)

Date(s): November 29, 1863

Principal Commanders: Major General Ambrose E. Burnside [US]; Lt. General James Longstreet [CS]

Forces Engaged: Department of the Ohio [US]; Confederate Forces in East Tennessee [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 880 total (US 100; CS 780)


The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga
All the information you need to understand the flow of the battle at Chattanooga as well as the political intriguing that helped to shape the results is here



Battle at Pittsburg Landing Art Print
Pitssburg Landing Civil War Tennessee

Civil War Confederate
Suede Grey Kepi Hat





Civil War Union
Suede Blue Kepi Hat
Tennessee State Battle Map
State Battle Maps
American Civil War Exhibits
Campaigns of the War
Civil War Summary
Documents of the Civil War
Confederate Commanders
Union Generals
Civil War Timeline
Women Civil War Soldiers
Ships and Naval Battles
Confederate Supplies

Cavalry Saber Sword
Cold Steel 1860 Cavalry Saber Sword
Metal Scabbard Authentic weight


Civil War Confederate Revolver

American Civil War Book Titles
Kindle Available
General James Longstreet

From Manassas to Appomattox
General James Longstreet

According to some, he was partially to blame for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg; according to others, if Lee had followed Longstreet's advice, they would have won that battle. He has been called stubborn and vain; and he has been lauded as one of the greatest tacticians of the Civil War
Kindle Available

Civil War Milledgeville: Tales from the Confederate Capital of Georgia
In the town of Milledgeville, Georgia--the state capital during the Civil War the actions of local soldiers and citizens alike tell a story that is unique to that locale. The division between combatant and civilian at the local level is not always clear. The often forgotten events and people that have shaped our larger understanding of the Civil War, from a womens riot to a confederate cavalry rescue.
Kindle Available
John Hunt Morgan Raiders

John Hunt Morgan and His Raiders
The "Thunderbolt of the Confederacy" John Hunt Morgan from Tompkinsville, Kentucky to Greeneville, Tennessee.
Kindle Available

Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War
In the winter of 1862, on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, two extraordinary military leaders faced each other in an epic clash that would transform them both and change the course of American history forever
Kindle Available
Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!
A stunning defeat for the Union. Confederate Robert E. Lee suffered roughly 5,000 casualties but inflicted nearly 13,000--on his opponent, General Ambrose Burnside.
Kindle Available
Cold Harbor Grant and Lee

Cold Harbor Grant and Lee
May 26-June 3, 1864

The spring 1864 campaignwhich pitted Ulysses S. Grant against Robert E. Lee for the first time in the Civil War
Kindle Available
South Divided

A South Divided: Portraits of Dissent in the Confederacy
An account of Southern dissidents in the Civil War, at times labeled as traitors, Tories, deserters, or mossbacks during the war and loyalists, Lincoln loyalists, and Unionists by historians of the war
Kindle Available
Brandy Station
The Battle of Brandy Station
North America's Largest Cavalry Battle

Just before dawn on June 9, 1863, Union soldiers materialized from a thick fog near the banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River to ambush sleeping Confederates. The ensuing struggle, which lasted throughout the day, was to be known as the Battle of Brandy Station the largest cavalry battle ever fought on North American soil.


Women in the War
Civil War Cooking
Civil War Submarines
Kids Zone Causes of the War

 

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.



Search
AmericanCivilWar.com
 
Enter the keywords you are looking for and the site will be searched and all occurrences of your request will be displayed. You can also enter a date format, April 19,1862 or September 1864.
Books
Civil War
Womens Subjects
Young Readers
Military History

DVDs
Confederate Store
Civil War Games
Music CDs
Reenactors