On to town... Photos by
@Gettmore Narrative and maps by
@lelliott19
We followed the Kingston Pike into Knoxville and ran right past the Bleak House, so our first stop was the Second Presbyterian Church -- the site of Colonel William P Sanders' mortal wounding.
Colonel Wm P Sanders is one of my favorites, so we spent a pretty good bit of time here.
William Price Sanders was born in 1833 near Frankfort, KY. In 1839, his family moved to Natchez, MS where he was raised. Jefferson Davis was his cousin. His family was wealthy and rubbed elbows with some pretty important people there in Natchez. In 1856, Sanders graduated 41st in his class at West Point. He was not an outstanding cadet. In fact, in 1854 then West Point Superintendent Robert E Lee wrote a dismissal letter, but help came from the US Secretary of War - his cousin Jefferson Davis - and he avoided dismissal.
In spite of pre-war suspicions that Sanders was sympathetic to the South, he remained loyal to the Union and served in the 2nd US Dragoons/6th US Cavalry in the Peninsula campaign and at Antietam. After Antietam, Ambrose Burnside assigned him to a command in the Department of Ohio and ordered him to lead a raid into East TN. After the successes there, he returned to Kentucky, and was appointed Brigadier General on 18 Oct 1863 - although his appointment was never confirmed by the Senate.
Here in the flower bed, among the shrubbery, in the back of the Second Presbyterian Church is this ground level plaque, marking the spot where the gallant Union cavalry officer, William P Sanders, was mortally wounded November 18, 1863, while defending Knoxville. He was shot in the side by forces under the command of Edward Porter Alexander -- who had been Sanders' roommate at West Point. Although the marker says he was shot by a sharpshooter from the tower of the Armstrong house (aka Bleak House) some modern scholarship suggest that the wound resulted from the engagement that occurred between Sanders' cavalry and the infantry of McLaws' division. Meaning that the shot that mortally wounded WP Sanders could have come from ground level, instead of from sharpshooters in the tower.
Again with the hand gestures and face --- I think Im telling them that the Middle Brook Pike is way over there.
Here we talked about Sanders evacuation from this location to the Lamar House/Bijou theater. He died the next day. He was initially buried in the cemetery of the Second Presbyterian Church, which was located downtown at the time. Sanders' remains were later removed to the Chattanooga National Cemetery.
And for one more piece of irony.... years later, the Second Presbyterian Church was relocated to this spot. Exactly where we stood - the spot where Sanders was mortally wounded. The door sill of the original church was brought along and rests a few feet from the plaque marking the place where Sanders fell.
Next we backtracked to the Bleak/Armstrong House. Here
@uaskme provided the interpretation. Utilizing Edward Porter Alexander's memoirs, he filled us in on the situation at the Armstrong House on November 18, 1863 as McLaws' division of Confederate infantry approached and readied to engage Wm P Sanders' Union cavalry. Sanders relayed back to Samuel Benjamin in Knoxville to fire a cannon at the house. Benjamin was successful and the shot hit the SE corner of the second floor, killing three Confederate sharpshooters who had been annoying Sanders' men. The Bleak House served as Longstreet's and McLaws' headquarters during the siege of Knoxville.
Again, thanks to
@Gettmore for the photos.
Ok. I know this photo below looks like a modern day house. And it is. But just pretend that the house is not there. In fact, pretend that none of the houses are there. We would use this house as a landmark later - from the old Knoxville College campus - to find the location of the northwest bastion of Fort Sanders from 1500 yards away. As far as accuracy, there is no way today to be 100% sure exactly where the boundaries of Fort Sanders were. But recent archaeological work and modern scholarship tend to place the tip of the northwest bastion within 50 yards, give or take, of this house. Possibly in the backyard of the house across the street or the one behind that. But since this distinctive blue house with the blue roof is easily visible from the old abandoned Knoxville college campus, we stopped here to orient the group to the situation.
At this stop, I read some accounts from both sides; nothing better than hearing it "in their own words."
You may already know that two columns of Confederate regiments took part in the assault on Fort Sanders. The column on the right was comprised of the 13th and 17th MS of Humphreys Mississippi brigade and the 50th, 51st, and 53rd Georgia of Goode Bryan's Georgia bridge. They directed their attack towards the west face of the NW Bastion. So if the blue house represents the apex of the NW Bastion, those regiments of Bryan and Humphreys would have been coming up towards Fort Sanders from the left of the house.
The other column of regiments was Phillips' Legion, the 18th GA, the 16th GA and Cobb's Legion of Wofford's Georgians. Their assault originated about the Meadow Brook Pike and was directed at the north face of the NW bastion. So, if the blue house represents the apex of the NW bastion, Wofford's column would have been coming from behind and right of the blue house. Like this
Map by @lelliott19 for CivilWarTalk
And like this one showing the streets. Blue house indicated at the apex of the NW Bastion.
Map by @lelliott19 for CivilWarTalk
Please note: scale may still be off in this version as I have not yet measured carefully --- but you get the idea. Below is a view of the rise in the ground behind the house across the street from the blue house. As requested by
@Norman Dasinger Jr
Next we headed over to the old abandoned Knoxville College campus where Edward Porter Alexander set up his Confederate artillery batteries. It's a circuitous route to get there, but once you arrive, you are almost level with the blue house and a quick Google earth measurement reveals that the blue house representing the apex of the NW bastion of Fort Sanders is almost exactly 1500 yards away.
This is an old photo I tool back in Dec 2020 but I added it to @Gettmore 's grouping here to show relative distance. @lelliott19
It's crazy how clear
@Gettmore 's lens was able to zoom in on the blue house with the blue roof. So close you almost touch it.
The Knoxville College is closed and abandoned now, but this marker stands in front of the lawn. It says Fort Sanders was located 1800 yards south but I am not troubled by that discrepancy at all. The center of Fort Sanders itself probably was 1800 yards away, but my concern is to estimate the location of the apex of the NW Bastion -- where the columns directed their attacks. And I think the blue house is about as close as you can get. In this case, unless new information comes to light "pretty close" has to be good enough.
And the final stop of the day. The group was kind enough to accompany me to the Henry Lonas Cemetery to visit the graves of two Colonels from Wofford's brigade who were killed in the Assault on Fort Sanders. Most people here at CWT know that I have been working on research for a regimental on the 16th Georgia and the 18th Georgia, Solon Z Ruff's regiment, served with my regiment in Wofford's brigade for most of the war. I never miss an opportunity to visit their graves when I am in Knoxville. I appreciated the group's willingness to accompany me in this ritual. It's an interesting story and I think they all enjoyed learning about it too.
Brigadier General William Tatum Wofford was absent, sick at home, and the brigade was commanded that day by Colonel Solon Z Ruff of the 18th Georgia. According to the diary of Surgeon Robert Pooler Myers (16th GA) Colonel Ruff was "killed in the first charge at the ditch which surrounded the fort."
In his diary, Surgeon Myers goes on to say that Col. Thomas was killed and fell in the ditch - his own coat pierced with 19 [bullet] holes. The next day, November 30, 1863, Ed Thomas, the son of Colonel Henry Phillip Thomas (16th Georgia) and Surgeon Myers went within the lines during a flag of truce to retrieve Col Thomas' "..body which was brought to us by four Yankees in a litter we were not allow’d to go near the fort which they had surrounded by a strong line of pickets."
And on December 1, Surgeon Myers recorded that Ed Thomas "caused his fathers remains to be disinterred from field Infirmary & buried at the private graveyard of a Mrs Crawford about a mile from our Camp & 3 m fr[om]: Knoxville. Col Ruff was buried along side Col Thomas. I marked both of the graves with head boards & cut their names on there." And so the two Colonels of Wofford's brigade, killed in the assault on Fort Sanders, were buried side by side in the cemetery known today as the Henry Lonas cemetery.
A member of our group
@midnitelamp noticed this interesting marker there in the cemetery and
@Gettmore snapped a picture of it too.
Thus ended our Knoxville campaign adventure. Again, many thanks to
@Gettmore for the great photos. Thanks to
@RLowe and
@uaskme for providing interpretation and to everyone who attended, shared their knowledge, contributed their expertise AND to all of you for reading the thread. It was such a GREAT day! I hope we can do it again very soon. --
@lelliott19