Fort Higley

Fort Higley. Decisive Battle for Knoxville. (Preface) On November 4, 1863, to divert Federal forces from Chattanooga, Confederate Gen. James Longstreet led two reinforced divisions from the city to attack Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's garrison in Knoxville. Burnside confronted Longstreet outside Knoxville, then withdrew to his fortifications on November 17, and Longstreet besieged the city. In Chattanooga, after Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army defeated Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's forces at the end of the month, Grant ordered Gen. William T. Sherman to reinforce Burnside. As Sherman marched toward Knoxville, Longstreet withdrew on December 4. Sherman soon rejoined Grant., This is Fort Higley, the southwestern-most work in the ring of fortifications that Union Capt. Orlando M. Poe designed in November 1863 to protect Knoxville and Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's army. Named for Capt. Joel P. Higley, who was killed at Blue Springs on October 10, 1863, it was the last of four hilltop works built south of the Holston River. The others were Sevierville Hill, Fort Stanley, and Fort Dickerson., When Gen. James Longstreet besieged Knoxville, the transportation center of East Tennessee, he ordered a battery established half a mile west of here on a hill overlooking the river and the city. After reconnoitering the Federal defenses for a weak spot, he chose to attack Fort Sanders, near the present-day campus of the University of Tennessee., At first light on the foggy Sunday morning of November 29, the Confederates launched their main assault on Fort Sanders north of the river. Simultaneously, the gunners west of here, reinforced with cavalry brigades, made a diversionary “demonstration” near Fort Higley to hold Federal reinforcements on this side of the river. The attack on Fort Sanders failed. The Union forces there suffered few losses; many more were killed and wounded south of the river. Conversely, the Confederates suffered 813 casualties at Fort Sanders but few in this area., Fort Higley, which U.S. Colored Troops manned after the battle, continued to protect Knoxville during the war. It remained undisturbed for almost 150 years until development threats prompted local preservationists to save it., Captions: , Bottom left: Engineers Capt. Orlando M. Poe (right) and Lt. Col. Orville E. Babcock, with Ft. Sanders in rear Courtesy Library of Congress , Top center: Knoxville viewed from Ft. Stanley - National Archives and Records Administration , Top right: “Defences of Knoxville" Courtesy Library of Congress , Bottom right: U.S. Colored Troops Courtesy Library of Congress