CHAPTER XVI.

HOSPITAL NEEDS--A SCENE AT HEADQUARTERS--INCREASED DESTITUTION--ASSAULT ON FORT SANDERS--LONGSTREET RETREATS--SHERMAN’S APPROACH--BURNSIDE GIVES HONOR TO HIS ARMY.

“Hark! to the call of the bugle horn, Or the quick rattle of mustering drum! Swift to the summons at even or morn, Bronzed and bearded the gallants come. Balls from the rifle-pits _plug_ about, Great guns boom from the big redoubt, And the angry hiss of the burning shell Screams through the fire of smoke and hell. ‘Who’s for the trenches? We must have it out; Now is the time, lads, to try the redoubt.’ Belted with fire and shrouded with smoke, Girdled with rifle-balls as with a wall, Yet with a yell from the trenches they broke, Plunging through rifle-balls, hell-fire and all.” REV. WALTER C. SMITH, _In “Hilda Among the Broken Gods.”_

To a peace-loving civilian, not enlisted in the fray, it seemed on the 28th of November, that there had been enough of wounds and blood-shed during the siege to have satisfied any but a very ruthless soldier. Such were not those who engaged in strife at Knoxville, but war has its inexorable demands, and the soldier cannot refuse them. Therefore must sanguinary scenes be enacted on the morrow at Fort Sanders, at the sight of which the cheek of such a civilian might well grow pale with horror. All that happened on the preceding ten days would not compare with it. It was shocking to hear, at the first of the investment, the noise of musketry and artillery, knowing that it came from fellow-countrymen engaged in killing each other, and shocking to listen to the groans of wounded soldiers, borne along the streets in ambulances from the field of battle, and one’s pity was deeply moved at seeing strong men prostrate in hospitals, with features sharpened by pain or pallid with the touch of death, but if one would learn greatly more of the evils of war, let him wait for the morrow and study the lesson it teaches.

At one time during the siege the hospitals in use became over-crowded and others had to be provided. One afternoon a Union citizen who was thought to have considerable influence with the United States military authorities, was visited by Judge A., who said:

“Mr. B., they are about to take the house of the Rev. Mr. C. and use it as a hospital.”

“I am very sorry to hear it,” replied B.

The Rev. Mr. C. had a wife and children, and might well be commiserated, if he and they should be turned out of doors in such sharply cold weather.

“I wish,” proceeded the Judge, “you would see Gen. Burnside, and if possible, prevent it.”

“Certainly,” said B.; “will you not go with me?”

The Judge consented and they started for headquarters, but upon reaching the first street corner, the Judge stopped.

“Mr. B.,” said he, “I have not much influence with the authorities. I wish you would undertake this matter alone.”

“Very good,” was the reply; for B. knew that his companion, although a worthy citizen and eminently learned in the law, was of doubtful reputation for loyalty to the United States, and as a good name in that last respect was of chief importance in the enterprise, he concluded that the Judge might as well withdraw.

Upon being admitted to headquarters Mr. B. found the Commander-in-chief engaged. Seizing the first good opportunity, he said:

“General, I learn from Judge A. that the house of the Rev. Mr. C. is about to be taken and used as a hospital.”

“We do not take the houses of ministers of the Gospel for army purposes. Judge A. has been to us this morning and obtained exemption of his own house from that use.” And then, calling with a loud voice to his adjutant, who was at the other end of the large room, the General said:

“Col. Richmond! send word to Dr. Jackson to take Judge A.’s house and use it for a hospital.”

Mr. B., at this unexpected result of his interposition in behalf of the clergyman, was secretly perturbed. If he had known that the Judge had only a short time before applied successfully for the exemption of his own house, he could have refrained from naming him. As it was, the Judge had been brought to grief by the intercession.

General R. B. Potter stood near and listened to the colloquy. His countenance wore an air of martial severity that was adapted more to repel than encourage further mediation. Mr. B. had, however, a “happy thought,” and summoning up courage, he said:

“General, Doctor Jackson, I know, has already taken possession of a suitable building for a hospital and has never used it.”

Promptly the General called out again, “Col. Richmond! you need not send that message to Dr. Jackson. Send him word to come and see me.”

Whatever passed in their interview, neither Judge A. nor the Rev. Mr. C. was disturbed.

The sufferers in hospitals were all from the army. Few citizens received injury from the besiegers, for Gen. Longstreet did not bombard the town. It was said that he refrained from doing so through the influence of citizens of Knoxville who accompanied his army. The only death in the town caused by the fighting was that of a child on the street, who was struck by a stray minnie ball. One death among Longstreet’s men, which caused great grief to him and his military family was that of a young sharp-shooter, who was occupying the tower of the house[41] where Gen. Longstreet had his headquarters. Blood flowed profusely from the wound as the body was carried down stairs, and all efforts to remove the stains from the steps were unsuccessful.

The great scarcity of food was even more pinching for the horses and mules than for the soldiers. So difficult was it to find sufficient provender for them that many of them were taken across the river and turned loose. A number of horses, left tied in an open field, fed upon one another’s manes and tails, and were finally reclaimed in a condition of ridiculous nudity. Towards the close of the siege, among the reports of general officers made to headquarters at night, was one from Gen. Manson of Indiana. In it was the statement that “the mules had that day eaten up the fifth wheel of a caisson.” The official report of this exploit of stubborn animals, whose chief vivacity was supposed to be in their heels, lightened the social atmosphere for a moment of its cares, and provoked a round of laughter from the company, in which the Commander-in-chief heartily joined. Habitually, a spirit of cheerfulness prevailed at headquarters. At first they were established in a large and commodious mansion on the principal street; but a hostile shell struck near the house, and it was conjectured that his enemy had learned of Burnside’s precise location from citizens of the town. Therefore, upon advice of friends, his office was transferred to a store-house, one hundred yards southward across the way. There, as the siege progressed, when the work of the day was over, he relaxed in pleasant conversation with his military family, the younger members of which occasionally joined in vocal music with spirit and effect. A favorite song of the party was Mrs. Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic:

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

There, at night, Union citizens visited, to learn his mind concerning the military situation and draw comfort and encouragement from his frank and hopeful words. Nor were those known to have been “Southern sympathizers,” but who gave no occasion of offense to the authorities, excluded from his presence during the day, when seeking it in their troubles. Men who indulged in open and persistent contumacy, he visited with restraint, but more obnoxious cases of that kind were chiefly sent by Gen. Foster after the siege within the Confederate lines.

To the scarcity of food for man and beast was added that of fuel. There was a general destruction of fences in the town to supply the necessity, which was specially urgent in the hospitals, where the cold hastened the death of more than one feeble patient. The celerity with which a company of soldiers, acting under orders, could pull down planks, wrest up posts, and carry them all away, was remarkable. The spectators stood amazed. Unionist owners were contented over their losses, knowing the army’s need, and friends of the South who lost, grieved in silence.

Not the least trying quality in the existing condition to the minds of Union people, was the uncertainty of the result, so full to them of weal or woe. Their anxiety was lessened by emulating the confidence of the soldiers in Burnside. As for any quiet reflection upon probabilities, they had little or no opportunity to indulge in it. Even the returning hours of darkness did not bring stillness. The night of November 28th was especially disturbed. The noise from the fighting near Fort Sanders for two hours about midnight, was followed by cannonading from Longstreet, which shook the frailer houses of citizens and broke their sleep into fragments. Before 6 o’clock next morning, people looking westward from upper windows, could see the flashing of artillery on the river bluff beyond College Hill, which accompanied

THE ASSAULT UPON FORT SANDERS.

Its garrison consisted of Benjamin’s battery, part of Buckley’s, and portions of both the 79th New York and the 2nd Michigan volunteer infantry. The fort itself was a bastioned earthwork, built upon an irregular quadrilateral, fronting 125 yards each, on the north and south, 95 yards on the west and 85 yards on the east. The last named front was left open--to be afterwards stockaded; the southern front was about half and the northern nearly finished, and the one on the west was entirely so, except cutting the embrasures. The bastion angles were very heavy, the relief of the lightest one being 12 feet. The ditch of the fort was 12 feet wide and from 7 to 8 feet deep. On the parapet were laid bales of cotton, which a covering of wet hides prevented from ignition by the cannon.

The whole command of Gen. Burnside were on the alert during the night. Especially so was Lieut. Benjamin, with his two hundred and twenty men under orders to keep strict silence. Just as the sun rose, the National flag was unfurled above the fort, and as the music of the “Star-spangled Banner” was poured forth at the same moment by the Division band, the voices of the men also went up in cheer after cheer. Then the enemy began a furious fire from batteries on the north and west, 700 and 1500 yards distant, and from the battery across the river. This cannonading lasted for twenty minutes, injuring only one man, but it met with no reply from Burnside’s batteries. Immediately a fire of musketry was opened by Longstreet, and at the same time a heavy column of troops, which he had concentrated in the night upon the ridge about 80 yards from the bastions, charged on them under cover of a fog, at a run. His order, issued after midnight, through Maj. Gen. McLaws, was as follows:

HEADQUARTERS, Nov. 29, 1863.

GENERAL: Please impress your officers and men with the importance of making a rush when they once start to take a position as that occupied by the enemy yesterday. If the troops once started rush forward till the point is carried, the loss will be trifling; whereas, if they hesitate, the enemy gets courage, or being behind a comparatively sheltered position will fight the harder. Besides, if the assaulting party once loses courage and falters, he will not find courage, probably, to make a renewed effort. The men should therefore be cautioned before they start at such a work, and told what they are to do, and the importance and great safety of doing it _with a rush_.

(Signed) J. LONGSTREET, Lieut. Gen’l.

The bastion against which the assault was specially directed, fronted to the north and was almost finished. Its relief was about 13 feet, which added to the depth of the ditch, say 7 feet, made a distance of 20 feet from the bottom of the ditch to the interior crest. This and the steepness of the slope presented grave difficulties to the assailants. Add to them the dampness of the morning, the nature of the soil, the obstacles placed in front of the ditch and the absence of scaling ladders, and the success of the storming party was, in advance, most uncertain. The columns formed by Longstreet were of his best men, and consisted of three brigades of Gen. McLaw’s division: one of Georgians under Gen. Wofford, one of Mississippians under Gen. Humphrey, and the third composed of Generals Anderson’s and Bryant’s brigades, South Carolinians and Georgians, with others. They went forward as ordered, “with a rush”--impetuously, and with a yell. First they encountered the abattis which broke their lines; then the telegraph wires tripped up and threw headlong whole companies. In their confusion, Lieut. Benjamin opened upon them with canister from his triple-shotted guns, and at the same time, portions of Gen. Hascall’s division, placed the night before by Gen. Ferrero on the flanks of the fort, made a cross fire upon the assailants. Although many of them fell because of the entanglements, the weight of the column forced its advance forward. In two or three minutes a crowd plunged into the ditch, and a few tried to reach the parapet. The raking shot from the fort still poured swiftly down upon them. Shells lighted in hand and tossed by Lieutenant Benjamin into the struggling mass, helped in the work of its destruction.

A second brigade follows the first, to attack and be slaughtered, but some of the men, escaping the ditch and surviving the tempest of death, press on and upward. Some climb the embankment. Three battle flags are planted on its top and are instantly pulled down. An officer with his hand on the muzzle of a cannon demands surrender of the fort and is immediately blown to pieces. Others also demand it and are felled. A dozen courageous men get into the bastion, are surrounded and disarmed. Two hundred prisoners are taken and sent to the rear. The garrison has helpers in the defence and bravely they stand or move on steady feet. They are sons of Michigan and Massachusetts.[42] Hopeless of success the storming party retreat, and the defenders shout, “Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” Distant soldiers listen and are glad, for the Union is triumphant. The star-spangled banner still floats in the air where it was unfurled when the sun rose.[43]

The ground between the fort and the crest is strewn with the slain and with wounded men crying for help. The ditch is filled with them almost to the brim. Burnside tenders a flag of truce and it is accepted. Now bury the dead and care for the wounded. Bring up the empty ambulances and send them away full to the hospitals. See to the bodies of Confederate soldiers piled one upon another. Some are dead and some are dying. Others are injured but will survive. Pull away the corpses--ruddy-faced in battle a little while ago, now white-faced in death. Let the living men who are lying underneath have fresh air. How glad they are to breathe freely again and to be in the sunlight! Draw them forth, whether they are silent or groaning. What is that? One of them speaks. “O God,” he cries, “this is horrible.”[44] And so it is. Let us depart from the scene.

Finally, call the roll, and count the losses of the contending parties. The difference in numbers of their killed and wounded resembles that of the battle of New Orleans, between such losses in the armies of Jackson and Packenham. Of the United States soldiers, there were eight killed and five wounded.[45] Of the Confederate officers and men, there were probably seven hundred killed and wounded and three hundred taken prisoners. The stands of arms captured were to be counted by the thousands.

On both sides the military conduct was heroic. Gen. Burnside said: “The gallantry of this defence has not been excelled during the war.” He congratulated the division of Gen. Ferrero, particularly Lieut. Benjamin and the officers and men with him in the fort, upon “this great achievement.” Pollard (Confederate) says: “Never, excepting at Gettysburg, was there in the history of the war, a disaster adorned with the glory of such devout courage as Longstreet’s repulse at Knoxville.”

There was during the assault and for some time after, sharp fighting on the south side of the river, but the Federal troops maintained their lines of possession. The attack upon them was at first slightly to their disadvantage, but it was finally repulsed with heavy loss to their enemy. Longstreet’s defeat at Fort Sanders was discouraging. Gen. B. R. Johnson, who had just joined him, asked permission to renew the assault with two brigades he had brought with him from Chattanooga. He was refused.[46] Gen. Longstreet gave orders to withdraw his lines, for the purpose of returning to Chattanooga. Just then he was informed _via_ Richmond of Bragg’s defeat by Grant and he was ordered to retire from Knoxville and go to the succor of Bragg. As an attempt to obey the order would be worse than useless, with Grant’s victorious army between him and the retreating General whom he was ordered to succor, Longstreet concluded to continue the siege in the hope of drawing Grant to the relief of Burnside, and so from the pursuit of Bragg.

For several days in the beginning of December, work was continued upon the defences of the town by the Federal army, and constant watchfulness was observed. Then, as well as previously, telegraphic wires connected headquarters and all the forts. Gen. Burnside observed constant personal vigilance; therefore an assault upon any point would be quickly known and met by him. The greatest precautions were taken. Skirmishers were supplied with cotton balls soaked in turpentine, which thrown blazing into the air would expose an attacking column. Rockets, to be used in like manner for the same purpose, were placed along the lines. Locomotives and driving wheels were fastened to the defences with ropes, by cutting which, they could be sent rapidly down hill to repel an assault. By the issuance of stored and captured arms, at least every other soldier had two guns at his post; but their chief want was the means, not of resistance to their enemies by force, but of sustaining life and strength. Rations were smaller every day, and in their hunger a single particle of food was so precious they were eager to adroitly make it their own.[47] On December 2d, Burnside had tidings by a courier from Grant of the battle of Chattanooga, and also a promise that Sherman should come to raise the siege of Knoxville. At noon of the same day a single gun was fired from Fort Noble which signalled this news, and the brigade stood in the trenches and gave three cheers for Grant and Chattanooga. The hope of early reinforcements buoyed up the spirits of the soldiers, but as their nutriment consisted of a little meal made of corn and cobs, with a bit of pork, or of eight ounces of flour for each man, the hope could not wholly disperse their gloomy thoughts about Libby prison and Andersonville.

On December 3rd, the enemy’s trains were seen moving eastward, and at night Capt. Audenried, of Gen. Sherman’s staff, reached Gen. Burnside’s headquarters. Relief was actually on the way, and the movements of Longstreet’s trains on the 4th indicated an early abandonment of the siege. In the afternoon, however, his skirmishers were unusually active and their fire was easily provoked. The besieged stood under arms all night in expectation of an attack, but the zealous shooting which had led them to fear it, was intended to cover another sort of movement. The next morning a profound silence reigned all around the town outside its defences. The pickets of the 36th Massachusetts, under Capt. Ames, were the first to discover that the besiegers had taken up the line of march. The First brigade began to cheer over the discovery, and this cheering was echoed all along the lines until the men almost lost their breath. Their hats were thrown away as they shouted, and when every man’s head was re-covered he shook hands with every other man he met, and there was a general jubilee. Longstreet had moved off, as Burnside said, “in remarkably good order,” and the few cavalry who could be mounted for pursuit were unable to make any impression on him.

On that day a letter came to headquarters with congratulations from Gen. Sherman, at Maryville, 17 miles distant, saying that he could bring 30,000 men into Knoxville the next day, but as Longstreet had retreated, unless Burnside specified that he wanted troops, Sherman would let his men rest and he himself would ride to see him. On the morrow, the distinguished visitor arrived in town and was hospitably entertained by the Commander-in-chief.[48] Their conference resulted in the agreement that Sherman’s forces, with the exception of Gen. Granger’s corps, should return to Grant at Chattanooga.

On Monday, December 7th, all available infantry were sent in pursuit of Longstreet and halted at Rutledge. The cavalry went to Bean’s Station but refrained from attacking him at Red Bridge, for want of sufficient strength. On the 11th, Gen. Burnside, in compliance with his previous suggestion, was relieved by Maj. Gen. Foster in command of the Department, and the following day he departed for Cincinnati. There, a few days afterwards, in a public speech, he gave all the honors he received, to his officers and soldiers. One of them has said: “These kindly words” they “will ever cherish; and in all their added years, as they recall the widely separated battle-fields, made forever sacred by the blood of their fallen comrades, and forever glorious by the victories there won, it will be their pride to say, ‘We fought with Burnside at Campbell’s Station and in the trenches at Knoxville.’”[49]

Burnside’s departure from East Tennessee was witnessed generally with sincere and in some instances profound regret. He had the affectionate esteem of the people--which to every wise and good man, is of more value than admiration of his talents. His conduct of military affairs had been grandly heroic, and he was justly rejoiced over the behavior of his men. He wrote:

“I shall ever remember with gratitude and pleasure, the co-operation, devotion, courage and patient endurance of the brave officers and men of the Ninth and Twenty-third corps, who have served so faithfully and conspicuously in Kentucky and East Tennessee. During the whole siege, and in the midst of the most arduous labor and greatest privations I never heard a word of discontent or distrust from any one of them. Each man seemed anxious to do his whole duty, and to their perseverance and courage is due the ultimate success of the defence of Knoxville.

“The loyal people of East Tennessee will always be gratefully remembered by me for their hearty co-operation, efficient aid and liberal hospitality.”

Chief Engineer, Captain Poe, has said:

“There is no language sufficiently strong which I can use to express my admiration for the conduct of the troops. From the beginning of the siege to the end, every man did his whole duty. The cheerful looks and confident bearing which met us at every turn, made it seem as though we were sure of victory from the first. It is doubtful whether any man within our lines had at any time after the first forty-eight hours, any fear of the result. All privations were borne, all hardships undergone, with a spirit which indicated as plainly as if written on the walls, that success would attend our efforts. The troops of the Ninth and Twenty-third army corps were chivalric rivals where duty was to be done. Never before had an engineer officer less cause to complain of the manner in which his instructions and directions were carried out.”

In the same connection, he testified to the great value of the contrabands’ services, in many cases voluntarily offered. “Nearly two hundred of them labored during the siege, and for the first week, regularly eighteen hours in the twenty-four. The amount of their work, performed both day and night, the whole time,” he said, “was truly astonishing.”