Fort Sanders (Knox County, Tennessee, Tennessee)
Knox County, Tennessee · Tennessee · Civil War
History & Significance
In September 1863, Union troops under General Ambrose Burnside occupied Knoxville and constructed fortified earthworks. In November, Confederate troops commanded by General James Longstreet began besieging the city, attempting to prevent Burnside from reinforcing Union forces at Chattanooga.
Fort Sanders was an earthen fort that spanned Seventeenth between Laurel and Clinch, and continued along Laurel and Clinch eastward to Sixteenth Street. The fort rose 70 feet above the surrounding plateau, protected by a ditch 12 feet wide and 8 feet deep, with an almost vertical wall rising 15 feet above the ditch.
On the morning of November 29, following a brief artillery barrage, three Confederate brigades charged. Union wire entanglements delayed the attack, but the fort's outer ditch—twelve feet wide and four to ten feet deep with vertical sides—halted the Confederates.
The Confederate assault was called off after twenty minutes, at a cost of 813 Confederate casualties to the Union Army's 13. The Confederate defeat at Knoxville, plus the loss of Chattanooga four days earlier, put most of eastern Tennessee in Union control for the rest of the war. The American Battlefield Trust and its members have saved more than 69 acres at Fort Sanders Battlefield.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Civil War earthen fortification with preserved defensive works
- Site of November 1863 Confederate assault that Union forces decisively repelled
- 69-acre preserved battlefield managed by American Battlefield Trust
- Original Union military engineering and topography still visible
- Knoxville Siege context and role in Tennessee campaign
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sanders
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sanders,_Knoxville
- https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battles-detail.htm?battleCode=TN025
- https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/exhibits/1863/ftsanders.htm
- https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-sanders
- https://www.battlefields.org/visit/battlefields/fort-sanders-battlefield
- https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/exhibitions/the-civil-war-in-knoxville-the-battle-of-fort-sanders/
- https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/battle-of-fort-sanders/
- https://www.knoxcountylibrary.org/library-news/search-fort-sanders