US Major General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, undertook an expedition into East Tennessee to clear the roads and gaps to Virginia, and, if possible, secure the saltworks beyond Abingdon.

On September 22, Union Col. John W. Foster with his cavalry and artillery engaged Col. James E. Carter and his troops at Blountsville. Foster attacked at noon and in the four-hour battle, shelled the town and initiated a flanking movement, compelling the Confederates to withdraw. Blountsville was the initial step in the Union's attempt to force Confederate Major General Sam Jones and his command to retire from East Tennessee.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: Sullivan County

Campaign: East Tennessee Campaign (1863)

Date(s): September 22, 1863

Principal Commanders: Col. John W. Foster [US]; Col. James E. Carter [CS]

Forces Engaged: 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, XXIII Army Corps, Department of the Ohio [US]; 1st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment and Artillery (approx. 1,200) [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 192 total (US 27; CS 165)

Kindle Available

Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns
The Federal success along the river opened the way for advances into central and eastern Tennessee, which culminated in the bloody battle of Chickamauga and then a struggle for Chattanooga. Chickamauga is usually counted as a Confederate victory, albeit a costly one

Shiloh and Corinth: Sentinels of Stone
The brave deeds performed by soldiers of the North and South. Approximately 93 striking photographs and accompanying histories bring the battlefields to life, from Shiloh and Savannah, Tennessee, to Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi

Kindle Available

One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
The first detailed military history of Lee's retreat and the Union effort to catch and destroy the wounded Army of Northern Virginia Complimented with 18 original maps, dozens of photos, and a complete driving tour with GPS coordinates of the entire retreat

Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864
This chronicles the great 1864 Overland Campaign, forty days that marked the end of the Civil War. In detail the battles in Virginia's Wilderness to the combat at Spotsylvania the trap laid by Lee at the North Anna River, to the killing ground of Cold Harbor

Nashville: The Western Confederacy's Final Gamble
Adequately mapped and illustrated, the read was an enjoyable one. The author was more than fair and accurate in his assessment of Hood who mismanaged, waisted and destroyed the superb Army of Tennessee, in effect throwing away the Confederacy's most viable hope

Struggle for the Heartland: The Campaigns from Fort Henry to Corinth
The military campaign that began in early 1862 with the advance to Fort Henry and culminated in late May with the capture of Corinth, Mississippi. The first significant Northern penetration into the Confederate west

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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

Forts Henry and Donelson
The Key to the Confederate Heartland
The front in Virginia was relatively narrow (Chesapeake Bay to Blue Ridge Mountains) while in Tennessee the front stretched hundreds of miles from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. To cover this extensive area the Confederates had a much smaller force than in Virginia

The Confederate Cookbook: Family Favorites from the Sons of Confederate Veterans
340 of Dixie's finest recipes courtesy of contemporary Confederate kitchens from Florida to Alaska. Here you'll find the delicious, traditional dishes that evoke the flavour of the Old South, as well as savoury regional favourites from all over the country. Fascinating historic anecdotes and previously unpublished, nostalgic sepia-toned images of identified Confederate soldiers are here for maximum visual appeal, along with easy-to-use instructions for making memorable dishes

To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War
Thousands of former slaves flocked to southern cities in search of work, they found the demands placed on them as wage-earners disturbingly similar to those they had faced as slaves: seven-day workweeks, endless labor, and poor treatment

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Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War
When Confederate men marched off to battle, southern women struggled with the new responsibilities of directing farms and plantations, providing for families, and supervising increasingly restive slaves

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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.