E. Tennesse Heats up for the Big Chill!

[richard]

Things started to heat up in East Tennessee in November of 1863 for what was to been called the Civil Wars' Valley Forge.


November 4, 1863 General James Longstreet left Chattanooga for Knoxville. He had been ordered to retake Knoxville by General Bragg after Bragg's failure to press the advantage against the Union forces there after the costly Confederate victory at Chickamauga. Longstreet and Forrest had strongly urged Bragg to press the forces there before they could be reinforced. Bragg strongly disagreed.
Longstreet felt that his being ordered to Knoxville was just a way of Bragg getting rid of him. He was concerned as to how his force would be reinforced and the route to be taken.

Longstreet's concerns were with merit, for part of his force was recalled to Chattanooga almost before they started for Knoxville. Maps and supplies that he was promised never arrived and the reinforcements sent would not arrive in time.

The force that he had consisted of a division of General LaFayette McLaws infantry and Hood's division under General Jenkins and E.M. Law. Also along were three divisions of Wheelers Cavalry under command of General W.T. Martin. All of the artillery was commanded by Colonel E.P. Alexander. Another 3500 men under General Bushrod Johnson were to follow. All told, Longstreet's force would number around 23000 men.

In the next few weeks, the lack of good planing and the weather will play havic on both the Union forces and the forces of General Longstreet.

[larry_cockerham]

That period was just a few weeks after the battle for Philadelphia, Tennessee on the railroad between Loudon and Swee****er. The little village now on very wobbly last legs still sports a few structures that were around in that battle for control of the railroad between Knoxville and Chattanooga. My ancestor's effort with the 5th NC Cav CSA got him a vacation in northern Illinois and later Point Lookout, MD.

[richard]

After the siege of Knoxville in November and December of l863 was over the commanding General James Longstreet advanced his army north east ward into upper East Tennessee. It had been a long and frustrating campaign for he and his men. Nothing seemed to go right. Knoxville, though under siege, managed to be resupplied by the Holston and French Broad river with the help of the Unionist citizens in the area. Supplies and reinforcements that were promised him by Braxton Bragg never arrived for they were never sent. The maps that he had were of little use as they were completely in accurate. His men, tired and hungry and most without shoes, moved into the upper reaches of east Tennessee moving closer to the friendly territory of southwestern Virginia.

By mid December, General Grant had given the orders for the removal of Longstreet and his forces out of east Tennessee. Massive amounts of supplies and troops arrived at Knoxville and moved eastward to the river crossing at Strawberry Plains. This was the location of a large railroad bridge that had been destroyed at least 4 times during the war. Grant was pushing the issue, push Longstreet out of East Tennessee as rapidly as possible.

Longstreet had other plans. Here he could rest his troops and supply his troops. The land was rich in food and other resources. Being that the area was mostly made up of Union sympathizers, he had no qualms about taking what he needed from them. Located some 30 miles from the large supply depot at Strawberry Plains, Longstreet set up headquarters at Russelville, Tennessee. The men busied themselves in gathering food and forage for the horses, building huts for shelter, and making shoes out of cow hide. In fact, a small factory was set up to produce about 100 pr of shoes a day. Today, an industral park stands where Longstreet's camp was located.

Up till this time, only light action had been experienced by both sides with the exception of at Bean's Station. Things were about to change and change fast. The weather was turning cold, and the rains were coming and coming hard.

On the 23rd, the move to drive Longstreet out of Tennessee was about to start in ernest.

It is now December 23rd and all is not well, it is still raining and the rivers are rising and ice is starting to fill the streams and rivers. Union forces are aproaching the town of Mossy Creek, the site of presant day Jefferson City. Just east of that town will be the site of one of the Bloodiest and longest battles that would take place in East Tennessee.

[richard]

In East Tennessee, it had been raining for several days, the 26th and 27 it rained at a steady pace both days. " This was what the natives call winter down here in Tennessee, a continuous rain of three weeks duration."

Henry Campbell, the young 17 year old bugler of the I8th Indiana Light Artillery described the day of the 27th of December in this way: "Enjoyed a late nap this morning, down in one corner of the Church listening to the rain droops off the roof, a sound I am not much accustomed to of late. Remained in camp until 3 pm waiting for the Rebs to dry their powder and attack us. But they not seeming willing- we moved out and attacked them- Still raining-Div. Formed line of Battle, Reaching from one road to the other and advanced slowly" General Sturgis and his army were camped near Mossy Creek and were advancing east ward.

"The continual rains and the constant passing and repassing of the Cavalry of both armies has made mud holes of the whole valley. Had a sorry night of it. No corn for the hungry horses, and they couldn't have eaten if we had. No supper and no place to sleep. Built a rail house.-threw a tarpaulin over it- started a huge pile of rails on fire in front of it".

[richard]

Monday December 28th. "Rose out of our beds of mud at the usual hour of 4 o'clock...stood in harness all day. In the evening we unhitched and camped for the night."
Tuesday, the 29th "..at r o'clock the battery moved back to a hill near Mossy Creek and went into position on it..... General Mc Cook was endeavoring to make a strategic movement. He sent part of the division off to surprise and attack a body of enemy while the other brigade was to keep up appearances here as if the whole force was together.

" The rebel commanders had decide to make a combined attack on this day and see if they could not effectually defeat us in one decisive battle." All was quiet until about 9 am when the enemy advanced on our out posts in heavy force. Driving them in upon the main body in confusion" From 11am until 2:30 pm, the 18th Indiana was the center of the union line and firing over 500 rounds of artillery shell and canister until they were able to with draw.

The 29th day of December, was the day of the heaviest fighting in the entire East Tennessee campaign.

December 30th, all was calm near Mossy Creek. Both sides had taken a beating and were taking a well deserved rest. But Mother Nature had other Ideas. During the afternoon, the weather started to turn colder. By night fall it was downright cold.

As the night wore on, the tempture fell lower and lower. Henry Campbell was ''Sleeping under a tarpaulin with a large cedar rail fire crackling at our feet. The shelter was facing the house in which General McCook had his headquarters. The Troops were camped all around this and during the night it got so intensely cold that some of the boys set the house on fire to keep themselves warm.

The temperature at Mossy Creek that night had reached 29 degrees below 0. Large piles of fence rails were burned to help keep the men warm. Many men on both sides fell into a deep sleep from which they would not awaken. None of the men in McCooks command had over coats. Few men had good stockings and none were prepared to meet this type of weather. The Confederates were in much worse condition. Many of the men had no shoes or coats or any kind of warm clothing. They had been in the field since early September when they were sent to Dalton.

That night, men on both sides tried everything they could to get a fire going. The rains had made the rails soaking wet. What wood they could find was hard to lite afire. Many pounds of gun power was used to help kindle a fire. Men would pile rails, logs, branches, anything that would burn into depressions and around rocks. Accounts were that men would burn in front and freeze in back until the turned around and the opposite would take place.

It is not known just how many men died in the grips of this artic cold that swept into that valley, but estimates are in the hundreds along with many horses and other farm animals.

It seems that the cold and the light snow that fell on the 6th kept things quiet on the front lines for a while.

[Freddy]

For a Union perspective first hand of the East Tennessee campaign during November and December 1863 check out my website, www.civilwardiary.net.