November 17, 1863---The Siege of Knoxville, Tennessee

NOVEMBER 17, 1863:       

The Siege of Knoxville begins. After having had his nose bloodied at Campbell’s Station, General James Longstreet turns his force and invests Knoxville with 17,000 men.

Knoxville, the home of anti-secessionist Parson William E. Brownlow (“If hell freezes over I’ll fight them on the ice!”) is a center of Unionist activity, though there are many pro-Confederates as well.

General Burnside’s men, inside Knoxville, are hardly discommoded by the siege; their earthworks are strong and their Main Supply Route is secure. Civilians inside Knoxville, however, are not so fortunate. Many, Unionist and Confederate both, lose their homes which are converted to military uses, and sometimes destroyed. Burnside orders many mules killed to conserve fodder, and has their carcasses dumped in the Tennessee River, fouling the Confederates’ fresh water supply.   

   

November 16, 1863---The Battle of Campbell’s Station, Tennessee

NOVEMBER 16, 1863:        

The Battle of Campbell’s Station, Tennessee. 

General James Longstreet’s Confederates execute a forced march to take the crossroads town of Campbell’s Station (now known as Farragut). Taking the town will allow the Confederates to control all road (and rail) traffic in the Knoxville hinterlands, thus dominating Knoxville. As soon as General Ambrose Burnside U.S.A. gets word of the maneuver, he sends his own men racing for the town. They occupy it barely fifteen minutes before the first of Longstreet’s men arrive. The Confederates launch a spirited attack on the barely-anchored Federals, hoping to drive them out of the town, but Burnside’s by now notorious mulishness pays off, as he refuses to allow his troopers to withdraw. Longstreet is forced to break off. Union casualties are 400 out of 5,000. The Confederates lose 600 of 5,000.   

Campbell’s Station Inn was President Andrew Jackson’s favorite hotel.