Fort Sanders, TN
[Assault on Fort Sanders- Kurz & Allison -
Courtesy of Wikipedia ]
Date(s):
November 29, 1863
Location:
Battlefield Unavailable -
Lost Integrity
Campaign(s):
Longstreet's Knoxville
Campaign [November-December
1863]
Battles in
Campaign:
Situation:
Confederate Lt. Gen.
James Longstreet was trying to take Knoxville, TN from
Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.
-
Longstreet
decided that Fort Sanders was the only vulnerable point to penetrate the Union
fortifications around the city and end the week long siege.
Commanders:
-
Union:
Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside
-
Confederate:
Lt. Gen. James Longstreet
Principal Forces:
-
Union:
Department of the Ohio
-
Confederate:
Confederate Forces in East
Tennessee
Description:
-
Longstreet
believed a dawn attack could overwhelm Fort Sanders.
-
He assembled a three brigade storming force below
the fortifications.
-
Following a brief artillery barrage on the fort’s
interior, the three brigades charged.
-
Union wire entanglements composed of telegraph
wire stretched between tree stumps delayed the attack, but the fort’s outer
ditch stopped the Confederates.
-
The ditch was twelve feet wide and from four to
ten feet deep with vertical sides and the fort’s exterior slope was almost
vertical.
-
Crossing the ditch was nearly impossible,
especially under withering defensive fire from musketry and canister.
-
Confederate officers led their men into the ditch,
but, without scaling ladders, only a few emerged on the scarp side.
-
Those who made it out of the ditch and entered the
fort were wounded, killed, or captured.
-
The attack only lasted twenty minutes.
-
Longstreet
undertook his Knoxville expedition to divert Union troops from Chattanooga and
to get away from Gen. Braxton Bragg,
with whom he was engaged in a bitter feud.
-
His failure to take Fort Sanders was the decisive
battle of the Knoxville Campaign.
-
The Confederate defeat combined with the loss of
Chattanooga on November 25th, put much of East Tennessee under Union control.
Slide Presentation:
None
[Battlefield Lost Integrity]
Classification1:
B
Casualties2:
-
Union:
100
-
Confederate:
780
Results:
 Union
Victory
Battlefield Websites:
Recommended
Resources:
1
Classification:
-
A
- having a decisive influence on a
campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war
-
B -
having a direct and decisive influence on their campaign
-
C -
having observable influence on the
outcome of a campaign
-
D
-
having a limited influence on the
outcome of their campaign or operation but achieving or affecting important
local objectives
2 Casualties are
someone killed, injured, wounded, captured or missing.
Revised
08/04/2008 |
