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Full Title
The Old knapsack; or, Longstreet's mad charge at Knoxville / by Marline Manly, [incomplete].
Author
Manly, Marline, 1854-1938.
Date Added
19 March 2019
Format
Journal
Language
English
Publish Date
1887-08-13
Publisher
New York : Novelist Publishing Co.
Series
The War Library : Original Stories of Adventure in the War for the Union > v. 7, no. 257
Source
Dime Novel and Popular Literature
Alternate Title
Longstreet's mad charge at Knoxville The War Library : Original Stories of Adventure in the War for the Union, v. 7, no. 257, August 13, 1887.
Topic
United States. > History > Civil War, 1861-1865 > Fiction. United States. > History > Civil War, 1861-1865 > Periodicals. Popular literature > Periodicals. United States. > Army > Military life > Fiction. Longstreet, James, 1821-1904 > Fiction. Knoxville (Tenn.) > History > Civil War, 1861-1865 > Fiction.
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- OLD‘ KbiAPS1i(lK; H7 it '
-m'Lorigs'treet's Mad ’ Charge ’’ at Knoxville.’
i C . BY Annex ironnas, wan coxmszsponnmrr. ' '
- , CHAPTER I. ,
1 , LONGSTREET CROSSING TENNESSEE.
‘ it u “Longstreetis coming!"
The words were uttered in a voice of half alarm and half full of
it an easy matter
lncredulity, as though the speaker could not find
. to believe what his eyes beheld.‘ . T V .
' ’ He was not alone. , ' ,
A grizzled sergeant and five other men were near him, and ii
p , .was evident that they had selected their position with an eye to
its advan tages. . - < ‘
, It was on a hilltop.
The ground sloped downward in gradation,
',then more abruptly. x
Everywhere it was covered with the green verdure that would
have made it excellent grazing pasture for countless herds.
This region was of an intensely rural character.
' ‘ Farmhouses dotted the landscape here and there, the boundaries
of the farms were plainly marked, and this section of the country
had never listened to a more alarming sound than the whistle of
the locomotive as the rushing train swept by.
at times gentle and
True, there had been much bitterness of feeling among the'peo- '
- ,ple of Tennessee around Knoxville, and the wild retreats of the
mountains knew many a bnshwhacker's haunt. ‘
When the rebel power was in the ascendancy the Union men
had to hide in the dens "of the mountains, and when after a time
‘V ; the Federal government came to hold Knoxville, it was the rebel
‘sympathizers who fled and remained in hiding, hunted at times
‘ like wild beasts. and only eager for the time to come when they
could pay off old scores. , ,
Parson Brownlow’s book on this state of affairs around Knox-
- .ville, presents incident enough to show what deadly hates were on-
; gmdered at that time. ‘ g . . x
g Yet no battle had ever been fought in this section of the country,
" and while, at Chattanooga tho cannon of rival’ hosts furrowed tht
. bloody field of Chickamauga, Knoxville slumberecffn peace. '
Burnside was there. , ' ’
', The general who had command of the Army of the Potomac
thrust unwillingly upon him on the preceding year, and been
forced to attack the enemy in their impreguable works at Fred-
ericksburg, urged and houndedeon by the clamor of the people
and the demands of congress-this man, whose record, withthe
exception of that one ‘unfortunate affairinto which he plunged
unwillingly, was a bright one, had charge of the troops in Eastern
Tennessee, with headquarters at Knoxville.
After the battle of Chickamauga, and while Bragg had the
Union forces cooped up in Chattanooga, be conceived the brilliant
idea of sending a portion of his vast army to capture Knoxville, ,
and thus throw‘Eastern Tennessee into rebel power again.‘
, Grant was now in command at Chattanooga and was almost
< daily augmenting his force and provisions. ‘ V ' T V ,
As Bragg held all‘ the ‘mountain ranges around Chattanooga, it
was reasonable to suppose that hc'conld spare the thirty-tlve thon-
side, but his works were seven miles in extent,.and taking away
such a force weakened them considerably.
. Grant realized this and laid his plans accordingly.
He wasnot yetreody to strike. A i ‘ '
; ” Dispatches were accordingly sent to Burnside, ordering him to
t hold Longstreet's attention for a few weeks, even if he had to allow
; him to besiege Knoxville.
‘. In the meantime Grant was preparing for those grand move-
ments, culminating in the famous battles of Tunnel Hill, Lookout
‘Mountain, and Mission Ridge, where Bragg was terribly defeated
3 and the rebelhosts driven toward Atlanta. thus freeing Tennessee;
7 forever from the Confederate rule. ‘ ' ‘
Burnside already knew that Longstreet was coming. >
An outpost of his army at dlodgorsville, consisting of a battery,
11 cavalry and an infantry regiment, had been surprised on the
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seventh of November about daylight, by the rebel hosts rushing
,... -....s..,.--
vupon them and a panic resulting, the cavalry, in spite of the 331,
lant efforts of their commander, Colonel Garrard, tied in con-
fusion.“ , ’ A '
Days had passed since then, yct Longstrcet did not put in an ap-
. poarancc. ' v
r THE ..WAR a LIBRARY. ; ,
c . ‘tended to,unusual length, so,
crossing of the Tennessee by the rebels. : g V it
‘It was now a. week after the disastrous‘ affair at Rog:-‘rsville,' or - v
‘to be more precise; on thefourteenth of November. ‘ V ,
‘ From where the sergeant and his little squad stood on top of UK’ '
bill, they had an admirable view of'the Tennessee River, about si
‘ miles below Louden. ’ V ' ' . ‘
It was evident from their hard breathing ‘that they had just. ‘
reached this position, having climbed the steep ridges on the side
furthest away from the water view. ' ‘- . . '
What a spectacle it was that burst upon the vision of those boys
in blue as they mounted the last ridge, and the sceneryof the bean-
tiful river burst upon them. V ‘ T
It was romantic by nature. .
On all sides the swelling ridges and green slopes, with the bear
tiful tints of autumn upon the trees, for Jack Frost ‘comes lat
in Southern Tennessee than in New York State-these united wi '5
the winding river feeling its way along the base of the hills like an
immense serpent, gave the scene an air of grandeur such as must
forcibly strike the most callous observer. .
Their eyes were instantly glued upon the river. ’ V t
No wonder that exclamation burst from the lips of the young
fellow who stood beside the sergeant.
“ Longstreet is coming!"
The river was black with the thousands of
were fording it.
Companies and regiments of foot-soldiers. squadrons of cavalry,
and batteries of artillery were in motion.
Some of the latter had already been taken across, the water be-
ing very shallow at the ford. , .
At last Longstreet was crossing the Tennessee.
The name was one held in awe by many Union soldiers.
Longstreet had been in nearly all the great battles of the East,
and he was known as a good soldier and a hard fighter.
, Transferred to Bragg’s command at Chattanooga, he had gone
into the battle of Chickamauga with the determination of giving
the Yankees a blow they would never get over.
This he would undoubtedly have, done had not his division of
twenty thousand veterans struck Thomas.
This redoubtable leader held the tiger-likeenemy at bay the live-
long day, and Longstreet was cheated of his prey;,for when at
lengthThomas did fallback under cover of darkness the rest of
the army had reached Chattanooga and were safe. . I . I,
Longstreet had been at Gettysburg, at Fredericksburg, and at ' 1
Chancellorsville, besides other battles of the East, andghis name1vas
enough to carry alarm with it. ‘ V ' ’ V ‘
The sergeant drew out a field-glass. X
With this be swept the scene before him. . ,4‘ -
rebel thousands,
Both banks of the river were black with the
and they continued to cross over regiment after regiment. .
It would not belong now before Burnside found himself facing
the old foe who had so stubbornly held the rebel center at Freder-’ ‘
icksburg, resisting all the desperate charges that werehurled upon
him by the Union commander. ' e
Then would come the tug of war.
that he :might learn in time 0 .133,
Confederates who’
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we -(aux...
s Longstreet would not set out toward Knoxville until his who],
V, sand men who were dispatched under Longstreet to crush Burn- "
Burnside had pickctsloyut in al1‘dlrcctlons,tho llncsybciug 0&1
Already more than one battery, flanked by regiments of gray-‘
coats, was on the way up the ridges. . . >
The object of this move was plain. '
army was across,the Tennessee. . 4
It must take some time for such an army to cross-possibly the
better part of two days, if any of the detachments were delayed in
reaching the scene.
' To protect them while crossing then, it was his intention to post ;
‘batteries upon the adjoining hills and thus guard the ford, not
knowing but what it might be the plan of Burnside to give him
battle at that point. i
It was a stirring scene, that long line filing down the river bank V
and crossing at the ford. ‘ , ' ,
Another line deployed to one side. - '
Longstreet was in motion. >
Burnside must know of this without delay.
The sergeant handed his field-glass to the stalwart young fellow V
beside him, who carried a sword, yet seemed to be no officer. ‘
‘ “John, cast your eye to the further bank, and on the left of the
moving line. Thor's a little group of horsemen. ‘You've been a
prisoner in Longstreet’s camp on the heights of Fredericksburg.
Do you see anything of the general tharf" ' I ,
. The young soldier took the glass. ,
. It was a good one, and he was enabled to see the faces of tho lit-i
tlc group of mounted men on the far distant banks! the Tennessee ' ’
with some degree of accuracy. v
. Eagerly be scanned each countenance. ' . g
It was ltruo that as a drummer boy he had been with Gcn- .- V. ‘
,ernl.1?urnslde Ill Freda]-lcksburg, , , V ‘ V ' ‘
, Ile‘hm1 lennnd in!-v""xl’()‘ of the boats that bore a regiment across .
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