Siege of Knoxville 1863
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 19 November 1863 – 4 December 1863 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1863 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Civil War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 35.9617, -83.9233 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Knoxville (November 17 – December 4, 1863) saw Lieutenant General James Longstreet's Confederate forces besiege the Union garrison of Knoxville, Tennessee, led by Major General Ambrose Burnside, in the American Civil War. When Major General William T. Sherman approached Knoxville with an overwhelming Union force, Longstreet ended the siege on December 4 and withdrew northeast. The siege was part of the Knoxville campaign of the Civil War.
In August and September 1863, Burnside's Army of the Ohio carried out a nearly bloodless invasion of East Tennessee, an area that included a substantial pro-Union population. Burnside's occupying force was thrown on the defensive when Longstreet's corps and Major General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry launched a counter-invasion from the southwest in November. Longstreet missed his chance to smash the Union forces in the field when Burnside conducted a successful fighting withdrawal to Knoxville. When Longstreet hesitated to attack, the Union soldiers built fortifications to make Knoxville's strong natural defenses even more secure.
Longstreet's forces lacked sufficient strength to completely surround Knoxville. Therefore, Burnside's Union garrison avoided starvation by bringing food into the city from the south bank of the Tennessee…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Knoxville (revision 1373019237), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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- Van Buren raid 1862
- Action off Galveston Light 1863
- Battle of Aldie 1863
- Battle of Arkansas Post 1863
- Battle of Baxter Springs 1863
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All 498 battles of the American Civil War →
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