The Battle of Fort Sanders (precipitated by the Siege of Knoxville, which began on November 17, 1863) was an engagement of the American Civil War fought in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Confederacy had never had effective control of large areas of East Tennessee. There had been little slavery practiced in East Tennessee, partly due to moral opposition to the practice and partly due to the fact that little of the land was suitable to plantation agriculture; pro-Union and Republican sentiment ran high and most East Tennesseans had not been in favor of secession. Therefore, Union forces had little trouble occupying Knoxville early in the conflict. They built several fortifications in the form of bastioned earthworks near Knoxville. One was Fort Sanders, just west of downtown Knoxville across a creek valley. Another, smaller one, Fort Byington, was atop a nearby hill that is the site of the central part of the campus of the University of Tennessee (then East Tennessee University).

As Confederate fortunes declined, a detachment under the command of General James Longstreet, a trusted subordinate of Robert E. Lee, was sent to harass Knoxville with the intent of distracting Union forces from their ultimately-successful Atlanta campaign. On November 23, 1863, Longstreet's forces seized Cherokee Heights, a tall bluff south of the Tennessee River from Knoxville but only about 2400 yards (2200 m) airline distance from Fort Sanders. His intent was to use cannon to "soften up" Fort Sanders in preparation for a frontal assault; however his artillery was largely ineffective from what was not truly a long range even by the standards of the era, at least part of the problem being attributed to gunpowder of a very low quality. The assault, conducted on November 29, 1863 was both a tactical and a strategic failure; Longstreet failed to capture Knoxville or even any of its significant fortifications and the distraction of the Union from the Atlanta campaign was minimal.

The Fort Sanders area was to become the site of many Victorian homes being built approximately three decades later. Several, especially those located on the uphill sides of steets, are most impressive; some have been restored in recent decades. A few were incorporated into the grounds of the 1982 World's Fair. Many more have been divided into apartments and are rented out to University of Tennessee students at low cost. The author James Agee was from this area; the exteriors for the motion picture version of All the Way Home were shot outside one of the more palatial homes, which has since burned.

External link

• Battle summary