RARE DUG CIVIL WAR WHITWORTH 45 CALIBER FORT DICKERSON SEIGE OF KNOXVILLE, TN for Sale

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RARE DUG CIVIL WAR WHITWORTH 45 CALIBER FORT DICKERSON SEIGE OF KNOXVILLE, TN For Sale

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RARE DUG CIVIL WAR WHITWORTH 45 CALIBER FORT DICKERSON SEIGE OF KNOXVILLE, TN:
$150.00

RARE DUG CIVIL WAR WHITWORTH 45 CALIBER FORT DICKERSON SEIGE OF KNOXVILLE, TN

Thesiege of Knoxville(November 19 – December 4, 1863) sawLieutenant GeneralJames Longstreet'sConfederateforces besiege theUniongarrison ofKnoxville, Tennessee, led byMajor GeneralAmbrose Burnside. When Major GeneralWilliam T. Shermanapproached Knoxville with an overwhelming Union force, Longstreet ended the siege on December 4 and withdrew northeast. The siege was part of theKnoxville campaignof theAmerican Civil War.

In August and September 1863, Burnside'sArmy of Ohiocarried out a nearly bloodless invasion ofEast Tennessee, an area that included a substantial pro-Union population. Burnside's occupying force was thrown on the defensive when Longstreet's corps and Major GeneralJoseph Wheeler's cavalry launched a counter-invasion from the southwest in November. Longstreet missed his chance to smash the Union forces in the field when Burnside conducted a successful fighting withdrawal to Knoxville. When Longstreet hesitated to attack, the Union soldiers built fortifications to make Knoxville's strong natural defenses even more powerful.

Longstreet's forces lacked sufficient strength to completely surround Knoxville. Therefore, Burnside's Union garrison avoided starvation by bringing food into the city from the south bank of theTennessee River. On November 29, a major Confederate assault was repulsed with heavy losses in theBattle of Fort Sanders. Aside from day-to-day skirmishing, there were two other significant actions, the first on November 18 west of the city and the second on November 25 at Armstrong's Hill on the south bank. After the siege ended, Longstreet's troops lingered in East Tennessee until April 1864, but were unable to capture Knoxville.

This particular Whitworth can actually be traced to The Bleak House. (Comes with Sgt Riker Display Case as Pictured BTW)

Bleak House, the home of Robert Houston Armstrong and Louisa Franklin Armstrong, is an Italianate-style mansion completed in 1858. During the Siege and Battle of Knoxville, November 17–December 4, 1863, the house was Confederate Gen. James Longstreet’s headquarters. A sharpshooter unit, “The Elite Twenty,” occupied the house’s second-floor east-facing windows, as well as the tower. They were armed with British Whitworth rifles, accurate to about 1,500 yards.

3148 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919

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