November 2020 Civil War News 33

outnumbered the Federals, “as of Alexander’s artillery officers the enemy stood he was ours.” contended, “If our infantry had The 36th Mass. Volunteers had been handled with anything like held the crossroads to protect the skill and dash with which the last of the Federal troops and the artillery was handled that the wagons to pass. The men then greater part of Burnside’s force moved to support Capt. Jacob would have been captured before Roemer’s 34th N.Y. Light Battery he got to Knoxville.” On the other with their two 3-inch ordnance hand, Burnside continued to gain rifles on the left of the road and Grant the needed time to pre- Lt. Benjamin’s Battery E, 2nd pare for the Battle of Missionary Artillery, with four 20-pounder Ridge, Tenn. A Race In The Mud Parrotts on the right. “At noon the Knoxville Campaign – Part I It took eight days for Longstreet alerted to the pursuit. It was a rebels came out of the woods just Sources: and his men to travel the sixty “race” through the mud. “It was beyond the village, in two lines • Longstreet, James. From “On several occasions during miles to Sweetwater, Tenn. On dark and disagreeable,” recalled of battle, with a line of skirmish- Manassas to Appomattox the war [Jefferson Davis] came arrival, expected supplies were Pvt. William Todd, 79th N.Y. ers in front. The whole field was Memoirs of The Civil War to the relief of the Union army not waiting. The men were on The wagons sank in mud holes open to our view. Benjamin and in America: J. B. Lippincott by means of his superior military short rations, having left “most and the men hauling them out be- Roemer opened fire at once; and Company, 1895 genius.” – U.S. Gen. Ulysses S. of our clothing and blankets and came so covered “with the splat- so accurate was their range that • Burrage, Henry S. History Grant all of our wagon transportation” tering mud that it was difficult to the rebel lines were immediate- of the Thirty-Sixth Regiment back in as it was in the tell them from the surrounding ly broken, and they fell back into Massachusetts Volunteers, On September 20, 1863, Gen. “heated season.” They found soil.” The order came to abandon the woods in confusion.” 1862–1865: Rockwell and won the Battle themselves with “the enemy in 100 baggage wagons. The 23rd Longstreet decided to send gen- Churchill, 1884. of Chickamauga, Ga., the larg- front to be captured, and our Mich. was tasked with “cutting erals Evander Law and George • Sorrel, Gilbert Moxley. est Confederate victory in the friends in rear putting in their pa- the spokes of the wagon wheels, Anderson’s men on a flanking Recollections Of A Confederate Western Theatre. Instead of using per bullets.” cutting up or burning the harness, maneuver along a concealed Staff Officer: The Neale the momentum of victory to fight Bragg complained Longstreet tents, officers’ baggage, ... while route on the left. Alexander’s Publishing Company, 1917 the Federals, the Confederates was falling behind schedule. barrels of bacon, coffee, and sug- guns opened fire. Defective am- • Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of turned to resolving conflicts Longstreet reminded him that ar were burst open and distrib- munition diminished its impact. Time-Life Books. The Fight for within their own army. Bragg “we were dependent upon forag- uted to the men, and what they Worse, a 20-pdr. Parrott rifle ex- Chattanooga: Chickamauga to and Gen. did ing for our daily rations for men could not take was destroyed.” ploded injuring its crew. Law Missionary Ridge. Alexandria, not get along. Furthermore, the and animals.” He felt that “it be- Still the Confederates were able sent to word to Jenkins that he VA: Time-Life Books, 1985. promotion of Gen. John Hood gan to look more like a campaign to retrieve 100,000 rounds of rifle had “obliqued so much to the left • Wert, Jeffry D. General James created a conflict within the com- against Longstreet than against ammunition, artillery rounds and as to have gotten out of its line of Longstreet: The Confederacy’s mand structure of Longstreet’s Burnside.” “... all kinds of good things.” attack.” Most Controversial Soldier: A army, pitting generals Lafayette In the meantime, Gen. Ulysses On November 16, Burnside Darkness ended the fight. Biography: New York: Simon McLaws and Micah Jenkins S. Grant inquired if Burnside reached Campbell’s Station first, Burnside quietly withdrew & Schuster, 1993. against each other. Longstreet’s could “hold Longstreet in check deploying his men in a “beauti- the muddy sixteen miles to request that “any good ma- until [Gen. William] Sherman ful position” across the narrow Knoxville. To the frustration of Stephanie Hagiwara is the editor jor-general to be found else- gets up, or, by skirmishing and valley. Longstreet’s men arrived the Confederates, the opportuni- for Civil War in Color.com and Civil where” be given the command falling back, can avoid serious fifteen minutes later. McLaws’s ty to capture Burnside was lost. War in 3D.com. She also writes a was denied. President Jefferson loss to yourself, and gain time.” Division were positioned in Jenkins considered Laws’s mis- weekly column for History in Full Davis’s solution was to send Burnside agreed. Forces were the woods to the left of the sta- management of the flanking ma- Color.com that covers stories of Longstreet to attack U.S. Gen. left to strengthen Knoxville’s tion with Jenkins’s on the right. neuver, “this careless and inex- photographs of historical interest Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the defenses as Burnside led 5,000 Gen. Alexander Porter’s 17 can- cusable movement lost us the few from the 1850’s to the present. Her Ohio at Knoxville, Tenn. men to Loudon, Tenn., where non were placed behind them in moments in which success from articles can be found on Facebook, Bragg considered Longstreet’s the 36th Mass. Volunteers were a meadow. Longstreet knew he this point could be attained.” One Tumblr and Pinterest. departure as “a great relief to busy building their me.” Longstreet was against permanent winter his assignment. By splitting the camp. Confederate forces, he argued On November “We thus expose both to failure, 15, near Loudon, and really take no chance to our- Longstreet crossed selves of great results.” But orders the Tennessee River. were orders. On November 5, due The enemy was five to train delays, the army starting miles away. Eight walking towards Knoxville. miles further was The trains connecting Lenoir’s Station. If Tennessee to Virginia were in Longstreet arrived desperate need of maintenance, first, he could block impacting the Confederate sup- Burnside’s retreat. ply chain. According to C.S. Col. But by the time Moxley Sorrel, “the cars and Longstreet reached railway by which we helped the Lenoir’s Station, transportation were almost comi- Burnside was gone. cal in their inefficiency. The rail- At 2 a.m., in road was of heavy grades and the a pouring rain, engines light-powered. When a Burnside’s men hill was reached the long train were heading to- would be instantly emptied— ward the cross- platforms, roofs, doors, and win- roads at Campbell’s dows—of our fellows, like ants Station. A out of a hill, who would ease Confederate sym- things by trudging up the dirt pathizer tipped off road and catching on again at the the Rebels to a short Gen. Ambrose Burnside. Colorization © 2013 General James Longstreet. Colorization © 2015 top; and so it went on as far as the cut to the crossing; civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/ civilwarincolor.com, courtesy civilwarincolor.com/ railroad would serve us.” the Federals were cwn. Library of Congress. cwn. Library of Congress.