Tag Archives: Knoxville 1863

A reenactor explains the cavalry

Cavalry played no part at all in the attack on Fort Sanders and little enough in the whole Siege of Knoxville. But General Joseph Wheeler’s rebel cavalry had an early role, and that’s my excuse for including this good video … Continue reading

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“…the only real night charge we ever made.”

Two of the Mississippi Brigade’s regiments, the 18th and the 21st, were charged with driving in the Union pickets the night before the dawn assault on Fort Sanders by the 17th and 13th regiments. After the war, 18th regiment Captain … Continue reading

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Reprise: Bleak House

One reader of the novel recently emailed to say he‘d Googled “Bleak House” and was surprised to see that it still stands. This is an old photo of the Armstrong home—which hosted Gen. Longstreet’s headquarters during the siege—when it was still a … Continue reading

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Reprise: Chicken Guts

“The men call them ‘chicken guts,’” fictional Confederate Major Clayton Ellis tells his wife, Parthenia Leila Ellis, in the novel. He was sheepishly referring to the fancy gold braid on the sleeves of his new uniform coat tailored in Nashville. The thickness … Continue reading

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General Humphreys’ honorable mention

General Benjamin Grubb Humphreys, commander of the Mississippi Brigade after the death at Gettysburg of its fiery brigadier General William Barksdale, wasn’t as aggressive as his predecessor. In fact, in the first big battle of his command, Chickamauga, Humphreys played … Continue reading

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Colors of the 79th New York

Battle banner of the 79th New York Cameron Highlanders, principal defenders of the Northwest Bastion of Fort Sanders.

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Reprise: Federal troops originally fought only for the Union

In the novel, Sergeant Timothy Chase uses his eyewitness experience of the Monitor and Merrimack battle of 1862 as an entertaining dramatic narrative to deflect the anger some other federal troops occasionally turned on him and his comrades of the … Continue reading

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Embalming the dead

The novel’s fictional Sergeant Timothy Chase of the 29th Massachusettes Infantry Regiment was detailed to see to the embalming and transportation of the regiment’s dead after the battle of Fort Sanders. Chase’s “scientific curiosity” led him to closely inspect the … Continue reading

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Reprise: William Tatum Wofford

Wofford’s Brigade cooperated with the Mississippi Brigade in the attack on Fort Sanders, as it had on the second day at Gettysburg five months earlier. But brigade commander William Tatum Wofford was absent, home in Georgia attending the unexpected funeral of a … Continue reading

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Kershaw’s Brigade

Kerhsaw’s Brigade of South Carolinians didn’t actually fight in the Fort Sanders attack. They were held in reserve. But they provided plenty of sharpshooting (i.e. snipers) during the weeks-long runup to the battle. And there’s a dandy bio about them … Continue reading

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