Knoxville Civil War RoundTable

CIVIL WAR SITES TOUR

Prepared by the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable

This tour covers significant Knoxville Civil War sites. The "Marker 1Exx" designation refers to the number on State of Tennessee historical markers at the various sites.

KNOXVILLE CIVIL WAR SITES Map by R. Daniel Proctor (138K)

  BLEAK HOUSE (CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL HALL)

(Marker 1E66 - at 3148 Kingston Pike)

Bleak House was built in Italianate style in 1858 for Robert Armstrong, the son of Drury P. Armstrong, who owned Crescent Bend. Confederate Generals James Longstreet and Lafayette McLaws made their headquarters here during the 1863 siege of Knoxville. Longstreet stationed sharpshooters in the tower of the house. In response, the house was fired on by Union soldiers. The bullet holes are still visible. A sketch in the tower that probably dates from the time of the War pictures the three men who were shot while on duty there.

In the yard on the western side of the house lies the anchor and cable that was stretched across the Holston River (later the Tennessee River, and now also known as Fort Loudon Lake) on November 23, 1863. This chain or cable was to prevent the Confederates from floating a raft down the river and smashing the Federal pontoon bridge across the river.

Call for hours of operation. Call (865) 522-2371 for more information.

  SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

(Marker 1E67 - at 2829 Kingston Pike )

Union General William P. Sanders, for whom Fort Sanders was named, was mortally wounded on the slope in front of the church on November 18, 1863. He died the next day.

  CRESCENT BEND

Crescent Bend was constructed as a residence for Drury P. Armstrong -- a merchant, farmer, and county official -- in 1834. It is also called the "Armstrong-Lockett House" for the first and last families to use it as a residence.

It was Confederate General Joseph B. Kershaw's headquarters during the siege of Knoxville in 1863.

Hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. Call (865) 637- 3163 for more information.

  CHEROKEE HEIGHTS

(Marker 1E71 - on Neyland Drive )

Cherokee Heights can be viewed across the river as you approach the University of Tennessee stadium complex and downtown Knoxville from the west. The heights are now crowned by a large condominium development.

Confederate General Longstreet seized the heights on November 23, 1863 in order to bombard Fort Sanders (2,400 yards to the north) with his artillery. The attempt failed due to the extreme range and the low-grade gunpowder available.

  WEST WING OF UNION LINES

(Marker 1E85 - on Neyland Drive, behind Thompson-Boling Arena)

The west wing of the Federal lines was anchored here from November 17th to December 4th, 1863. Union General Burnside's entrenchments ran northwest to the site of Melrose Hall on the University of Tennessee campus, then north to Fort Sanders (see the Knoxville Battle Map, below). Confederate General Longstreet's picket line ended about 1,200 yards west of the location.

  PONTOON BRIDGE SITE

(Marker 1E72 - on Neyland Drive, on the bank overlooking Knoxville Riverboat)

The site of the Union pontoon bridge was at the foot of Central Avenue in 1863. The bridge enabled Union General Burnside to hold the heights on the south side of the river. From left to right, these heights were: Sevierville Hill, Fort Stanley (end of Gay Street), and Forts Dickerson and Higley.

  FORT HILL

(Overlooking Dandridge Avenue, between Surrey Street and Saxton Avenue)

Fort Hill was the extreme eastern wing of the Union line. Federal troops from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky were stationed here.

  MABRY-HAZEN HOUSE

(1711 Dandridge Avenue )

The Mabry-Hazen House was built in 1858 by Joseph A. Mabry, Jr. The house was reported to have been headquarters for various generals from North and South during the alternating occupations of the city.

In the first year of the Civil War, Joseph Mabry, prosperous Knoxville importer and merchant, outfitted an entire regiment of Confederates at a cost of $100,000. Later in the War, when the Union occupied Knoxville, he and many other Knoxvillians appeared on Market Square one Saturday morning to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the Federal Government in response to a notice posted throughout the city.

The house has been beautifully restored and is open for tours. An outstanding collection of furniture, porcelain, silver, and artifacts can be seen.

  CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

(1919 Bethel Avenue)

The Confederate Cemetery is rarely opened to the public. It is owned and administered by the Mabry-Hazen Foundation, and inquiries should be addressed to the Mabry-Hazen House, (865)522-8661.

Most of the 1,600 Confederates and 50-60 Union prisoners of war buried here were lost to disease, which periodically swept the camps during the War. As far as is known, none of those lost at Fort Sanders are interred here.

The centerpiece of this park-like cemetery is the impressive 48-foot high monument -- composed of a granite base 12 feet square and 42 feet tall that is surmounted by a statue of a Confederate soldier facing north.

  FORTS DICKERSON AND STANLEY

(Marker 1E74 - at 2612 Chapman Highway, and Marker 1E79 - at the corner of Chapman Highway and Fort Dickerson Road)

Forts Dickerson and Stanley were on the west and east, respectively, of the present route of Chapman Highway. On these hills commanding the Holston River and protecting the southern approaches to Knoxville were Union troops from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, along with the 8th Tennessee and 16th Kentucky regiments.

Confederate General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry advanced on the forts on November 15-16, 1863 from Sweetwater and Maryville, but was repulsed. The forts played no role in the Battle of Fort Sanders, other than to protect the southern approaches.

  GENERAL BURNSIDE HEADQUARTERS

(Marker 1E65 - at 526 Gay Street, at the former site of the Farragut Hotel)

The headquarters of Union General Ambrose Burnside was in the John H. Crozier home, then located on this site, during November 1863.

  BATTERY WILTSIE

(Marker 1E83 - near 414 West Vine Avenue)

Battery Wiltsie was part of a large Federal earthwork located behind Vine Avenue between Gay and Walnut Streets.

The defense line ran along this ridge from Fort Hill (2,400 yards east) to Fort Sanders (1,400 yards west). There were 10 forts crowning the heights, 5 to the east and four to the west of this point.

  IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH

(414 West Vine Avenue)

The Immaculate Conception Church now on this site was built in 1886. The congregation's pastor from 1865-1867 was Father Abram J. Ryan (1838-1886). He was a Confederate chaplain and the author of the "Requiem of the Lost Cause," The Conquered Banner, written soon after the surrender at Appomattox, on April 9, 1865.

  THIRD CREEK VALLEY

(West of 21st Street)

It is difficult to see the area of Third Creek, where the Confederate forces were staged on November 29, 1863. However, from Old City Hall on Summit Hill Drive (built ca. 1848, it was originally known and used as the Deaf and Dumb Asylum; during the Civil War, when it was used as a military hospital by both the Confederate and Union armies, it was known as Asylum Hospital), one can view the staging area.

  NATIONAL CEMETERY

(Adjacent to Old Gray Cemetery, at 939 Tyson Street; turn left off Broadway at the end of the 500 block)

The National Cemetery was established in 1863. The old red brick house, once the cemetery office, together with the gateposts, monuments, and wrought iron and marble fences, have been proposed for the National Register of Historic Places.

The highest monument in the cemetery was dedicated on October 15, 1896 to commemorate Union soldiers buried there.

  FORT SANDERS

(Marker 1E68 - near 505 17th Street, at Laurel Avenue, is closest to the site; Marker 1E69 - at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and 16th Street, is two blocks south of the site)

Fort Sanders was a bastioned earthwork besieged unsuccessfully by Confederate General James Longstreet's forces at dawn on November 29, 1863.

KNOXVILLE BATTLE MAP Map by Digby Gordon Seymour, in Divided Loyalties (80K)

Four infantry brigades emerged from a declivity to the north, but were turned away with heavy loss by defenders overlooking a deep, icy ditch which they raked with rifle and cannon fire. In just 20 minutes, 813 casualties were sustained. This was the Confederate Army's last attempt to capture Knoxville.

  UDC MONUMENT

(Just south of Marker 1E68 - near 505 17th Street, at Laurel Avenue)

The United Daughters of the Confederacy, Chapter 89, erected this monument "To the memory of the Confederate soldiers who fell in the assault on Fort Sanders." The monument was dedicated on November 29, 1914. The inscription reads:

Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight,
Nor time's remorseless doom,
Shall dim one ray of Glory's light,
That gilds your glorious tomb.

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