Description
A painting of the 79th New York at the Battle of Fort Sanders
The Battle of Fort Sanders was the crucial engagement of the Knoxville Campaign of the American Civil War, fought in Knoxville, Tennessee, on November 29, 1863 between the Confederate forces under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, and the Northern army under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. As a Confederate army under General Braxton Bragg besieged Union forces at Chattanooga, a detachment under the command of Longstreet attempted a breakthrough of the Union defenses at what was determined to be the weakest point, Fort Sanders.
At dawn on the morning of November 29, 1863, 4,000 Confederate veterans launched an assault against the northwest bastion of Fort Sanders. They were confronted by telegraph wire that had been strung between tree stumps at knee height. After that, the attackers would have to cross a ditch 12 wide and 8 ft. deep before climbing the 15 foot walls of the fort. Defended by firmly entrenched Union veterans, the rebels suffered terribly as they tried to scale the almost insurmountable earthen mound. Unable to dig footholds, men climbed upon each other’s shoulders in an attempt to scale the walls, but were beaten back with frightening losses. Sergeant Willam Todd, of the 79th New York Infantry, Morrisons’s Brigade (Highlanders), saw 2 Southerners charging a Union Sergeant, who in the excitement of the action, failed to withdraw his ramrod when he last loaded the piece, and it was fired off with the charge. “On attempting to reload he was unable to ram home the cartridge. Two of the enemy were making their appearance above the crest within a dozen feet of him. Clubbing his rifle he flung it at them, but failed to hit either.”
In what amounted to a massacre, the Confederate forces were badly mauled, suffering 813 casualties to the Union’s 13.
To learn more about the battle of Fort Sanders, visit the American Battlefield Trust site.
Print of an original 24″ x 30″ oil on canvas painting.
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