Category Archives: Bleak House

Signal flags at Knoxville

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Dick Stanley

Gen. Edward Porter Alexander was a colonel at Knoxville, in charge of Longstreet’s artillery, where he put to good use the signal flags he’d learned to use as a U.S. Army officer under Albert J. Myer, an army surgeon, before … Continue reading →

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Those sharpshooters

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Dick Stanley

Sharpshooters, like the unknown Rebel one who felled Fort Sanders’ namesake, General William P. Sanders, from more than a mile away, were special troops with their own drill and esprit. It helped that they often had special arms such as … Continue reading →

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Where Union Gen. Sanders died

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Dick Stanley

There aren’t many places in Knoxville today reminiscent of the Battle of Fort Sanders. The fort itself disappeared long ago, unless you count the neighborhood and hospital that later assumed its name. There’s Bleak House, of course, Gen. Longstreet’s headquarters. … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Bleak House, Gen. Ambrose Burnside, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. William P. Sanders, Knoxville | Leave a comment

Own Your Own Whitworth, part 2

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Dick Stanley

There’s another opportunity to own a rare English Whitworth rifle, the preferred sniper rifle of the Confederacy. It begins on September 12th through the 14th online at the Rock Island Auction Company. The Rebs fatally sharpshot Fort Sanders’ namesake Union Gen. William … Continue reading →

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Sharpshooter glasses

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Dick Stanley

You can buy these orange-colored, nickle-plated wire-frame glasses on eBay with the assurance of several books that they were worn by sharpshooters in the Civil War. Ahem. One sharpshooter (today he would be called a sniper) played a prominent role in the 1863 siege … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Bleak House, Civil War accoutrements, Fort Sanders, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. William P. Sanders | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The “ballad” of Ephraim Shelby Dodd

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Dick Stanley

Private Dodd was one of Terry’s Texas Rangers who’d been captured by the federals and was housed in Knoxville’s Castle Fox jail during the Union occupation. A curious conjunction of events, ranging from Gen. Longstreet’s hanging of two alleged Union … Continue reading →

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Reprise: Sharpshooter

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Dick Stanley

Literary critic and writing professor David Madden’s 1996 novel Sharpshooter is the only other fiction I’m aware of about the Siege of Knoxville and, very briefly, the Battle of Fort Sanders. It’s a good story, worth your money (as little as one … Continue reading →

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Own your own Whitworth

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Dick Stanley

The Rebs fatally sharpshot Fort Sanders’ namesake Union Gen. William P. Sanders, with a thirteen-pound English Whitworth rifle like this one. It was fired more than a mile away, from the tower  of the Bleak House mansion, Gen. Longstreet’s headquarters. … Continue reading →

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