Poor Planning

The Battle of Fort Sanders a part of the Knoxville Campaign was fought November 29^th 1863, hastening the end of the Siege of Knoxville.

When a Union force occupied Knoxville, Tennessee, engineer Captain Orlando M Poe built several earthwork fortifications around the city, including Fort Sanders to the west of Knoxville.  The Fort was 70 feet higher than the surrounding plateau, and included a ditch 12 feet wide and 4 to 10 feet deep.  The fort was held by 440 men of the 79^th New York Infantry with 12 cannon.

Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet was ordered to the area of Knoxville to prevent Union Major General Ambrose E Burnside from moving his troops to support Union troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Longstreet decided that Fort Sanders was the best place to attempt a break in the Union line.

On November 29^th 1863 the assault began, which quickly went wrong due to poor planning and unknown obstacles the Confederate soldier would run into.  In the very early morning hours Longstreet’s men moved to within 130 yards of the Fort, and then waited for dawn in a freezing rain.  The men first encountered telegraph wire which had been strung about knee high, then reaching the ditch they found the ground to steep, frozen and slippery to get up.  The Union soldiers defending the Fort shot into the massed Confederates below them with deadly fire.  As the Confederates attempt to reach the top, they climbed up each other.  For a short time the flags of the 13^th Mississippi, 16^th Georgia, and 17^th Mississippi Infantry were planted at the top of the ditch, but color bearers were quickly shot down.

Twenty minutes into the attack Longstreet had it called off.  Union soldiers captured over 200 Confederates, stuck in the ditch.  The casualties were quite lopsided, with the Confederates loosing 813 to the Union’s 13 looses.

You Have Got Too Much

The Battle of Orchard Knob, a rocky hill to the east of Chattanooga was fought November 23^rd 1863.

Union General George H Thomas formed his troops up in the valley between Chattanooga, Tennessee and rocky hill about 100 feet high, known as Orchard Knob on the afternoon of November 23^rd 1863.  Confederates posted on top of Orchard Knob watched the Union troops from behind rifle pits, as they move as though on parade in front of their position.

Somewhere around 1:30 pm the 14,000 Union soldiers began to march on the Confederate position at the double quick.  There were only 634 Confederates holding the line on Orchard Knob.  The Confederate soldiers had time only to fire a single volley before Thomas’ troops closed in on the Knob, pushing the Confederates back to the base of Missionary Ridge.  By 3 pm Union General Thomas J Wood was sending the message to Thomas, that "I have taken the first line of the enemy's entrenchments."  Thomas sent back the order, “Hold on; don't come back; you have got too much; entrench your position."

Union General Ulysses S Grant would use Orchard Knob on November 25^th 1863 as his forward observation point, while watching the Union assault on Missionary Ridge.

Indiana Artillery

The 12^th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was mustered into Union service January 25^th 1862.

The 12^th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was organized in Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Indiana.  It mustered into Union service January 25^th 1862 for a term of three years.  They left the same for Louisville, Kentucky.  The men took part in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi during May of 1862. The 12^th joined the Army of the Ohio in June 1862 before being moved the Defenses of Nashville in September of that year.  The 12th would also be on duty at the battles of Chattanooga, and the Battle of Nashville in 1864.

The men of the 12^th mustered out of service July 7^th 1865.  The Battery lost 24 men killed in action, and another 24 who from disease.

The President's Brother-In-Law

Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm was killed during the Battle of Chickamauga  September 21^st 1863; he was the brother-in-law of President Abraham Lincoln.

Benjamin Hardin Helm was born June 2^nd 1831 in Bardstown, Kentucky, the son of John L and Lucinda (Barbour) Hardin.  In 1846 he enrolled in the Kentucky Military Institute at the age of 15, just three month later he left for the United State Military Academy at West Point.  Helm graduated 9^th out of a class of 42 in 1851.  He served at the cavalry school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and at Fort Lincoln, Texas before being discharge do to being diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis.  Helm went on to study the law at the Universities of Louisville and Harvard; graduating in 1853 he began practicing law with his father in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.  He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives and served as Hardin County State’s Attorney.  In 1856 Helm married Mary Todd Lincoln’s half-sister Emilie.

In 1861 with Kentucky remaining neutral President Abraham Lincoln offered Helm the job of Union Army Paymaster.  Helm turned the job down and raised the Confederate 1^st Kentucky Cavalry.  He was commissioned their Colonel October 19^th 1861, and they marched south under Confederate Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner.  On March 14^th 1862 Helm received the assignment to raise the 3^rd Kentucky Brigade and was promoted to Brigadier General.  They saw action at the Battle of Shiloh, guarding the flanks.  In January 1863 Helm was placed in command of the First Kentucky Brigade, known as the “Orphan Brigade” and was assigned to the Confederate Army of Tennessee.  With the Orphan Brigade Helm saw action at the Battles of Chickamauga and Vicksburg.

The Orphan Brigade was a part of Confederate fight against Union Major General William Rosecrans’ offensive during the Battle of Chattanooga on September 20^th 1863.  Striking near the center of the Union line and moving against heavy fire the men under Helm made it to within 40 yards of the Union line.  In less than an hour the Orphan Brigade lost a third of its men.  Helm, on horseback was shot in the chest by a member of the Union 15^th Kentucky Infantry.  Helm fell from his saddle and was carried to the rear, where it was determined his wound was mortal.  He died September 21^st 1862.  Confederate General John Cabell Breckinridge wrote to Helm’s wife, saying "Your husband commanded them [the men of the Orphan brigade] like a thorough soldier. He loved them, they loved him, and he died at their head, a patriot and a hero."

The High Commander

President Abraham Lincoln, impressed with Ulysses S Grant's fight and ability to win, had him promoted to Lieutenant General and on March 9th 1864 Grant took over command of all the Union forces.

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 Ulysses S Grant was a Colonel in the 21st Illinois Infantry. In February 1862 he became the Major General of volunteers. When his forces caused the surrender in July 1863 of the Confederates at Vicksburg he was made Major General. In March 1864 Grant was promoted the Lieutenant General after his victory at Chattanooga. After receiving this promotion Grant was place in command of all of the Union armies, and decided to accompany the Army of the Potomac in the Eastern theater, which caused that Army’s commander; General George Gorden Meade a great deal of frustration.

He served in this position from March 9th 1864 to March 4th 1869, commanding the army during Reconstruction.