November 29 - Dec. 4, 1863

The Confederate siege of Knoxville sought to retake the East Tennessee city from the Federals. The great assault came at Fort Sanders, the only vulnerable place where they could penetrate the Union fortifications that surrounded the city. The fort surmounted an eminence just northwest of Knoxville. Northwest of the fort, the land dropped off abruptly. Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet believed he could assemble a storming party, undetected at night, below the fortifications, and before dawn, overwhelm Fort Sanders. Following a brief artillery barrage directed at the fort's interior, 3 Rebel brigades charged. Union wire entanglements - telegraph wire stretched from one tree stump to another - delayed the attack, but the fort's outer ditch stopped the Confederates. This ditch was 12 feet wide, from 4-10 feet deep with vertical sides. 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 did lead their men into the ditch, but without scaling ladders, few emerged on the sharp side and a small number entered the fort to be wounded, killed, or captured. The attack lasted only 20 minutes. Longstreet undertook his Knoxville expedition to divert Union troops from Chattanooga and to get away from Bragg, with whom he was engaged in a bitter feud. His failure to take Knoxville scuttled his purpose. This was the decisive battle of the Knoxville Campaign.