The Siege of Knoxville and the Battle of Fort SandersEngineer Captain Orlando Poe at Fort Sanders, 1864
During the Civil War both Federal and Confederate strategists wanted to control Knoxville. In November of 1863 Confederate Lt. General Longstreet, then in Chattanooga, was ordered to re-take the city that two months before the Confederates had given up without a fight. As Federal General Burnside gathered additional troops back to Knoxville, the two armies raced towards the city. Victorious at the Battle of Campbell Station, Federal troops streamed into the city just ahead of the Confederates, as engineer Captain Orlando Poe directed hundreds of soldiers, civilians, and ‘contraband’ African Americans to dig for their lives.
Fort Sanders – A Disastrous 20 minute battle
After 11 days of siege, Longstreet received orders to attack Burnside and return to Chattanooga. On November 29, 1863 the northwest bastioned fort recently named for the fallen General Sanders, was the site of a deadly assault. Aided by a telegraph wire entanglement and a 20 feet tall parapet, 400 defenders held out against 4000 of the Confederacy’s most experienced troops. Brilliant engineering resulted in staggeringly disproportionate casualties: 813 Confederate, 13 Federal. This defeat, plus the loss of Chattanooga four days earlier, changed the course of the war in the Western Theater by opening the way for the Federal push to Atlanta.
Knoxville Fortifications Today
Nearly all of the ten miles of hand dug earthworks–forts, batteries and rifle trenches, are gone.
The Knoxville Civil War Roundtable has worked for many years to preserve and interpret remnants of Poe’s fortifications. In 2006, the Aslan Foundation rescued the Fort Higley earthworks from destruction. Fort Higley, which defended the south side of the river from the west, is currently being assessed for preservation and interpretive planning. Located west of Fort Dickerson, it is not open to the public.
At the Fort Sanders site a solitary monument, near the intersection of Seventeenth Street and Laurel Avenue, marks the northwest bastion. Knoxville area residents gather for a “Two Flags” event.
(AT LEFT) At the Fort Sanders site a solitary monument, near the intersection of Seventeenth Street and Laurel Avenue, marks the northwest bastion. Knoxville area residents gather for a “Two Flags” event.
