The siege of Knoxville (November 17 – December 4, 1863) saw Lieutenant General James Longstreet's Confederate forces besiege the Union garrison of Knoxville, Tennessee, led by Major General Ambrose Burnside, in the American Civil War. When Major General William T. Sherman approached Knoxville with an overwhelming Union force, Longstreet ended the siege on December 4 and withdrew northeast. The siege was part of the Knoxville campaign of the Civil War.
In August and September 1863, Burnside's Army of the Ohio carried out a nearly bloodless invasion of East Tennessee, an area that included a substantial pro-Union population. Burnside's occupying force was thrown on the defensive when Longstreet's corps and Major General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry launched a counter-invasion from the southwest in November. Longstreet missed his chance to smash the Union forces in the field when Burnside conducted a successful fighting withdrawal to Knoxville. When Longstreet hesitated to attack, the Union soldiers built fortifications to make Knoxville's strong natural defenses even more secure.
Longstreet's forces lacked sufficient strength to completely surround Knoxville. Therefore, Burnside's Union garrison avoided starvation by bringing food into the city from the south bank of the Tennessee River. On November 29, a major Confederate assault was repulsed with heavy losses in the Battle of Fort Sanders. Aside from day-to-day skirmishing, there were two other significant actions, the first on November 18 west of the city and the second on November 25 at Armstrong's Hill on the south bank.
After the siege ended, Longstreet's troops lingered in East Tennessee until April 1864, but were unable to capture Knoxville before they went into winter quarters, and were then called to rejoin Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the East.
Background
Union occupation Burnside, commanding the Union Army of the Ohio, mounted the Union invasion of East Tennessee in late August 1863, with two infantry divisions and one large cavalry division from XXIII Corps soldiers stationed in Kentucky. Burnside's offensive was mostly unopposed and Federal troops occupied Knoxville on September 1. Many of the people of East Tennessee were pro-Union and welcomed the Union troops. By mid-September, Burnside's troops had seized control over a large part of East Tennessee. When Bragg's Army of Tennessee defeated the Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19–20, 1863 the strategic situation dramatically changed. After his victory, Bragg effectively blockaded the Army of the Cumberland within Chattanooga.
On September 20, two divisions of IX Corps joined Burnside, and on October 3, Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcox with 3,000 six-month Indiana soldiers arrived at Cumberland Gap. The Army of the Ohio's strength returns for October 1863 reported the following troops present for duty: 6,352 officers and enlisted men in IX Corps, 7,912 infantry and artillery and 7,458 cavalry in XXIII Corps, and 4,391 troops in the Left Wing. Brigadier General Robert B. Potter commanded IX Corps, Brigadier General Mahlon D. Manson directed XXIII Corps, Brigadier General James M. Shackelford led the cavalry, and Willcox commanded the Left Wing.
Major General Robert Ransom Jr. with 5,800 Confederate infantry plus two cavalry brigades under Brigadier General William E. "Grumble" Jones and Colonel H. L. Giltner lurked to the northeast. The Confederate department commander Major General Samuel Jones doubted whether his 8,000 troops were strong enough to seriously disrupt the Union occupation. On October 17, Bragg ordered an infantry division under Major General Carter L. Stevenson and two cavalry brigades under Colonels George Gibbs Dibrell and J. J. Morrison to menace the Union area of control. On October 20, Dibrell and Morrison defeated a Union cavalry brigade under Colonel Frank Wolford in the Battle of Philadelphia. After this reverse, Burnside abandoned Loudon and fell back behind the Tennessee and Little Tennessee Rivers.
Subsequently, Burnside massed the 6,000 men from IX Corps and 3,000 soldiers from Brigadier General Julius White's XXIII Corps infantry division in the area near Lenoir's Station. The remaining XXIII Corps infantry division under Brigadier General Milo Smith Hascall defended Knoxville, Brigadier General William P. Sanders' cavalry division observed the area around Maryville, Willcox held Bull's Gap, and two infantry regiments and 300 cavalry garrisoned Cumberland Gap. In addition, two Union cavalry brigades cooperated with Willcox's force. Major General Ulysses S. Grant was anxious whether Burnside could hold Knoxville.
Longstreet's advance
On November 4, Bragg ordered Longstreet to detach his two divisions from the Army of Tennessee and recapture Knoxville. Bragg believed Longstreet botched the Battle of Wauhatchie on October 28, in which the Confederates proved unable to cut the Federals' newly established Cracker Line. Bragg also wished to send away a general whom he found to be troublesome, as indeed he found many of his subordinate commanders.
Longstreet wanted to be reinforced to 20,000 men for the campaign, but Bragg denied the request, and also recalled both Stevenson's and Benjamin F. Cheatham's infantry divisions that opposed Burnside. However, Bragg loaned him Major General Joseph Wheeler and most of his army's mounted force. Longstreet tried to obtain accurate maps of East Tennessee but was only able to get inferior ones. The old locomotives provided proved unable to efficiently shift Longstreet's two divisions north at the same time that Stevenson's and Cheatham's divisions moved south, so the railroad transfer took until November 13 to complete. Longstreet discovered that Stevenson's troops had eaten most of the countryside's food supplies and that his own wagon train was hardly adequate to mount a campaign. Longstreet's command totaled 10,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 35 guns.
The Confederates built a pontoon bridge at Hough's Ferry on the Tennessee River; this was a short distance west of Loudon. The division of Brigadier General Micah Jenkins was first to cross the pontoon bridge to the north bank on November 14. Major General Lafayette McLaws' division crossed the next day. By the evening of November 15, Burnside's forces were holding Lenoir's Station, confronted by Jenkins' division to the north with McLaws' division farther north. Longstreet hoped to cut off Burnside's troops from Knoxville, but did not have a good understanding of the area.
Earlier, Longstreet had authorized Wheeler and most of the cavalry to attempt to seize Knoxville from the south. Wheeler defeated Sanders' Union cavalry in several encounters during November 14–15, pressing them back to the outskirts of Knoxville. However, Wheeler was ultimately thwarted when his troopers ran into Knoxville's infantry defenders on the south bank of the Tennessee River. On November 16, Longstreet recalled Wheeler's cavalry to the north bank, but by that time it was too late to use the horsemen to trap Burnside's forces.
On the north bank of the Tennessee were Longstreet's 12,000 Confederates, including one brigade of Wheeler's cavalry. Opposing them were 9,000 Union troops under Burnside. Longstreet's advance on November 14–15 was so rapid that one of White's two Union brigades was left behind at Kingston where it remained until Knoxville was relieved. Burnside began evacuating Lenoir's Station during the night of November 15. Marching on muddy roads caused by a recent heavy rain, the Federals reached Campbell's Station ahead of Longstreet's pursuit. On November 16, Longstreet failed to crush Burnside in the Battle of Campbell's Station. The Federal rearguard made three separate stands that morning before joining Burnside's main force astride the Kingston Pike in the early afternoon. When the Confederates began turning Burnside's left flank, the Federals fell back to a fifth position. Supported by their artillery, the Union infantry conducted a well-executed fighting withdrawal before marching through the night. The first infantry did not reach Knoxville until 4:00 am on November 17.
Siege Sanders' delaying action
Burnside's directed his chief engineer, Captain Orlando Metcalfe Poe, to assign each brigade a position in the defense line. As the Union soldiers arrived at Knoxville, Poe gave them their orders. As soon as the soldiers were able, they began building defenses according to Poe's plans. The troops were assisted in the construction by pro-Union volunteers, by drafted Confederate sympathizers who proved to be unenthusiastic, and by Black workers who were "particularly efficient" at the work. Burnside also ordered Sanders to bring his cavalry division to the north bank to oppose Longstreet. Sanders posted four mounted regiments behind Tank Creek (now known as Fourth Creek) to the west of Knoxville. By 9:20 am on November 17, Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw's brigade of McLaws' division began pressing against Sanders' defense line. After a skirmish, Sanders withdrew east and took up a new position around noon. McLaws sent a regiment to outflank this line from the north, but before it could get into position, Sanders' horsemen pulled back again.
Sanders fell back to a hilltop position behind a small ravine west of Third Creek and east of a home belonging to Robert H. Armstrong, known as Bleak House. At this point, the Tennessee River was immediately on Sanders' left flank and a branch of Third Creek protected his right flank. McLaws deployed his division with Kershaw's brigade facing Sanders and Brigadier General Goode Bryan's brigade in the second line. To Kershaw's left on a ridge was Brigadier General Benjamin G. Humphreys' brigade with Colonel Solon Z. Ruff's brigade in second line. McLaws did not attempt to advance farther that day; he waited while Jenkins' division arrived and extended Longstreet's line to McLaws' left. By evening on November 17, Jenkins' division was positioned across the road to Clinton while Colonel John R. Hart's Georgia cavalry brigade was farther east, blocking the road leading to Tazewell.
Sanders posted about 600 Union soldiers with the 45th Ohio Mounted Infantry on his right, 112th Illinois Mounted Infantry in the center, and 8th Michigan Cavalry on the left. The 8th Michigan's men were armed with the Spencer repeating rifle. Two cedar trees marked the center of the line on the otherwise bare hilltop. The Union troops dismounted and every fifth man held the horses of four other men. Along the front line, the Union soldiers built a breastwork of fence rails about high and the same width at the base. Colonel Charles D. Pennebaker's Union cavalry brigade of two regiments faced Humphreys' and Ruff's brigades farther north. East of Third Creek, Colonel James W. Reilly's infantry brigade formed a battle line. Burnside requested Sanders to hold his advanced position until noon on November 18. That would give time for soldiers and workers to put Knoxville in a state of defense.