This Week in Civil War History

Week of November 15th

November 15:
1864 - Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia and starts Sherman's March to the Sea.

November 16:
1863 - The Battle of Campbell's Station was a battle of the Knoxville Campaign. It occurred on November 16, 1863, at Campbell's Station, (now Farragut), Knox County, Tennessee.

In early November 1863, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, with two divisions and about 5,000 cavalry, was detached from the Confederate Army of Tennessee near Chattanooga, Tennessee, to attack Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Union Department of the Ohio troops at Knoxville. Following parallel routes, Longstreet and Burnside raced for Campbell's Station, a hamlet where the Concord Road, from the south, intersected the Kingston Road (now called Kingston Pike) to Knoxville. Burnside hoped to reach the crossroads first and continue on to safety in Knoxville; Longstreet planned to reach the crossroads and hold it, which would prevent Burnside from gaining Knoxville and force him to fight outside his earthworks.

By forced marching, on a rainy November 16, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's advance reached the vital intersection and deployed first. The main column arrived at noon with the baggage train just behind. Scarcely fifteen minutes later, Longstreet's Confederates approached. Longstreet attempted a double envelopment: attacks timed to strike both Union flanks simultaneously. Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws's Confederate division struck with such force that the Union right had to redeploy, but still held. Brig. Gen. Micah Jenkins's Confederate division maneuvered ineffectively as it advanced and was unable to turn the Union left. Burnside ordered his two divisions astride the Kingston Road to withdraw three-quarters of a mile to a ridge in their rear. This was accomplished without confusion. The Confederates suspended their attack while Burnside continued his retrograde movement to Knoxville. Estimated casualties for the battle were 400 for the U.S. and 570 for the Confederates. Had Longstreet reached Campbell's Station first, the Knoxville Campaign's results might have been different.

November 17:
1863 - The Siege of Knoxville begins - Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee under siege.

November 19:
1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the military cemetery ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

November 20:
1861 - Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.

November 21:
1861 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.

Week of November 22nd

November 22:
1864 - Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.

November 23:
1863 - Battle of Chattanooga begins - Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter-attack Confederate troops.

November 24:
1863 - Battle of Lookout Mountain - Near Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant capture Lookout Mountain and begin to break the Confederate siege of the city led by General Braxton Bragg.

November 25:
1863 - Battle of Missionary Ridge - At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.

1864 - A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.

November 26:
1863 - Mine Run - Union forces under General George Meade position against troops led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

November 27:
1863 - Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and several of his men escape the Ohio Penitentiary and return safely to the South.

November 28:
1862 - The Battle of Cane Hill was fought during the American Civil War on November 28, 1862 in Washington County, Arkansas. Union troops under Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt drove Confederates under Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke back into the Boston Mountains in northwestern Arkansas.

The Battle of Cane Hill was part of a Confederate attempt to drive the Union forces back into Missouri and recapture ground lost during the Pea Ridge campaign of early 1862, when Union forces had secured parts of northern Arkansas. Now, Confederate General Thomas C. Hindman moved his army of 11,000 soldiers into Fort Smith, Arkansas, and prepared to move across the Boston Mountains into the extreme northwestern corner of the state. Awaiting him there was Blunt with 5,000 troops. Hindman hoped to attack Blunt's force, which was over 70 miles from the nearest Union reinforcements. Hindman dispatched Marmaduke and 2,000 cavalry troopers to hold Blunt in place while Hindman moved the rest of his force through the mountains.

Blunt disrupted the Confederate plan by advancing south when he heard of Marmaduke's approach. Marmaduke was not prepared to meet Blunt, who was 35 miles further south than expected. Marmaduke's troops were surprised and outnumbered when Blunt suddenly attacked on November 28. Marmaduke began a hasty retreat and ordered Col. Jo Shelby's cavalry to fight a delaying action while the rest of the Confederates headed for the mountains. Blunt pursued Marmaduke's forces for 12 miles before the Confederates reached the safety of the hills. Though the conflict lasted for nine hours, casualties were light. The Union troops suffered 41 men killed or wounded, while the Confederates lost 45.

This small engagement was a prelude to a much larger clash at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, nine days later. Blunt's advance left him dangerously isolated from Union forces in Springfield, Missouri, but when Hindman attacked again on December 7, he again failed to expel Blunt from northwestern Arkansas.