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KNOX, Tennessee in the 1860s: 1 through 8 of 8

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  1. Unionists Burn Bridges in Eastern Tennessee
    date November 8, 1861map KNOX, Tennesseetags Migration/Transportation, War

    On November 8, 1861, a group of East Tennessee Unionists led by William Blount Carter burned five bridges to hamper Confederate troop movements. Carter, a Presbyterian minister, had spoken with Lincoln about a plan to burn eleven key bridges between Alabama and Virginia. Many iron furnaces were located in Alabama, producing confederate cannon. Carter's hope was for Union troops to attack Knoxville...

  2. Lincoln Demotes Burnside After Resignation Letter
    date September 17, 1863map KNOX, Tennesseetags Civil War, Politics, Government

    In the aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg, there have been three main reasons given arguing that Ambrose Burnside should bear all of the blame. Contempioraries and historians have pointed to the delay of pontoon bridges, the distrust of Burnside within the Army of the Potomac, and lastly the presence of partisanship in the army.  The overwhelming evidence, however, still points to Burnside’s...

  3. The Battle of Knoxville
    date November 29, 1863map KNOX, Tennesseetags War

    A severely uneven battle, the Battle of Knoxville was almost as done as soon as it began. The battle on November 29, 1863, highlighted incompetent Confederate planning and a very easy victory for the Union. Led by Major General Lafayette McLaws, the Confederate army planned a surprise attack on Fort Sanders in hopes of seizing access to Knoxville. However, in a series of mistakes, the Confederates...

  4. Hanging of Ephraim E. Dodd
    date January 8, 1864map KNOX, Tennesseetags Crime/Violence, Health/Death, War

    Ephraim E. Dodd was hung on January 8, 1864 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was a rebel spy from Texas who had been working for Gen. Longstreet's army. He had used the name “Williams' and had claimed to belong to the 3rd Tennessee. It seems that many people in Tennessee thought that this execution was justified because of all of the “cold-blooded murder' that had taken place in East Tennessee,...

  5. Outrage about Enlistment of African-American Soldiers
    date January 9, 1864map KNOX, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    An article was printed in Brownlow's Knoxville Whig that discussed the enlistment of African-American soldiers into the Federal Army. The article claimed that a portion of the Federal Army was enlisting black soldiers because it would be a great insult and wrong to the South. However, this article also focuses on the issue of enlisting African-American soldiers into the Confederate Army, which seems...

  6. The Tone of the Richmond Papers Becomes Nervous
    date May 14, 1864map KNOX, Tennesseetags Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    There was a brief article that appeared in Brownlow's Knoxville Whig on May 14, 1864 that discussed the tone of recent Richmond papers. It claimed that the tone had become increasingly nervous, which was perhaps indicative of the fate of Richmond and the South. Brownlow's Knoxville Whig claimed that Richmond papers were stating that 1864 would be the last year of the war. Although Richmond papers...

  7. Anti-Confederate Southerners in Tennessee
    date August 10, 1864map KNOX, Tennesseetags War

    Despite their geographical locations in the South, many southerners found themselves strongly opposed to the Rebel cause, as indicated by this and several other editorials written in W.G. Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. This particular article is a call to arms, so to speak, against Rebel sympathizers who “have been for months, heading guerilla bands, robbing Union families, and burning down Union...

  8. Concerns over the building of the Tennessee Rail Road
    date April 9, 1867 to May 1, 1867map KNOX, Tennesseetags Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    During April and May, 1867, a number of letters arrived into the Brownlow's Knoxville Whig newspaper. The letters, sent by a number of farmers expressed concerns over the delay of the railroad construction. The farmers worried over two possible delays. The first resulted from the recent state appropriation of 500,000 to the building of the railroad. As a condition for the money, the Tennessee General...