A Fine Opportunity Lost

Longstreet's East Tennessee Campaign, November 1863–April 1864

Ed Lowe

• Publisher: Savas Beatie
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781611216745
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

In Old Warhorse vs. Redemption Seeker, the clash between James Longstreet and Ambrose Burnside unfolds in the Western Theater, shaping the fate of East Tennessee and Chattanooga during the Civil War. For James Longstreet, the transfer to the Western Theater in 1863 offered opportunity. For his opponent Ambrose Burnside, the hope of redemption. Longstreet, who Robert E. Lee called his "Old Warhorse," had long labored in the shadow of both his army commander and the late Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. When Confederate fortunes took a turn for the worse in Tennessee, both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee dispatched Longstreet and most of his First Corps to reinforce Braxton Bragg's ill-starred Army of Tennessee. Within hours of his arrival Longstreet helped win the decisive victory at Chickamauga and drove the Union Army of the Cumberland back into Chattanooga. For a host of reasons, some military and some political, Bragg dispatched Longstreet and his troops to East Tennessee. Waiting for him there was Ambrose Burnside, whose early-war success melted away with his disastrous loss at Fredericksburg in late 1862 at the head of the Army of the Potomac, followed by the humiliation of "The Mud March." Burnside was shuffled to the backwater theater of East Tennessee. Bragg's investment in Chattanooga and subsequent arrival of Longstreet opened the door to Tennessee's Union-leaning eastern counties and imperiled Burnside's isolated force around Knoxville, the region's most important city. A heavy Confederate presence threatened political turmoil for Federal forces and could cut off Burnside's ability to reinforce Chattanooga. Longstreet finally had the opportunity to display his tactical and operational skills. The two old foes from the Virginia theater found themselves transplanted to unfamiliar ground The fate of East Tennessee, Chattanooga, and the reputations of the respective commanders, hung in the balance.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Book Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword by Robert Carter
• Prologue
• Chapter One: Rapid Movements and Sudden Blows
• Chapter Two: “For the Noble People of East Tennessee”
• Chapter Three: More Against Longstreet than Burnside
• Chapter Four: The Battle of Campbell’s Station
• Chapter Five: Fort Sanders
• Chapter Six: “The Assault Must Be Tried”
• Chapter Seven: “A Dismal Failure”
• Chapter Eight: Drive Longstreet as Far as You Can
• Chapter Nine: “A Want of Confidence”
• Chapter Ten: With Faithful Comrades
• Chapter Eleven: “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia”
• Epilogue
• Appendix A: Civil War Knoxville and the Loss of Fort Sanders by Jim Doncaster
• Appendix B: James Longstreet and the Army of Tennessee’s High Command by Cecily Nelson Zander
• Appendix C: Longstreet and Confederate Strategy by Ed Lowe
• Order of Battle
• Suggested Reading
• About the Author