Editing Knoxville, Tennessee (section)

===American Civil War===
{{Main|Knoxville Campaign}}

{{See also|Battle of Fort Sanders}}
[[File:Charles-douglas-shooting-1862.jpg|thumb|right|Engraving of a Confederate soldier firing at Union supporter Charles Douglas on Gay Street in Knoxville in late 1861]]
Anti-slavery and anti-secession sentiment ran high in East Tennessee in the years leading up to the Civil War. [[Parson Brownlow|William "Parson" Brownlow]], the radical publisher of the [[Brownlow's Whig|Knoxville Whig]], was one of the region's leading anti-secessionists (although he strongly defended the practice of slavery).<ref>Forrest Conklin, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=150 William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210116/http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=150 |date=March 3, 2016 }}". ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: February 27, 2008.</ref> Blount County, just south of Knoxville, had developed into a center of abolitionist activity, due in part to its relatively large [[Quakers|Quaker]] faction and the anti-slavery president of [[Maryville College]], Isaac Anderson.<ref>Durwood Dunn, ''Cades Cove: The Life and Death of An Appalachian Community'' (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1988), 125.</ref> The [[Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church, Knoxville|Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church]] was reportedly a station on the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref>Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission, "[http://www.knoxmpc.org/historic/areas/citylist.htm Designated Properties: Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070712083132/http://www.knoxmpc.org/historic/areas/citylist.htm |date=July 12, 2007 }}". Retrieved: February 27, 2008.</ref>

Business interests, however, guided largely by Knoxville's trade connections with cotton-growing centers to the south, contributed to the development of a strong pro-secession movement within the city. The city's pro-secessionists included among their ranks [[J. G. M. Ramsey]], a prominent historian whose father had built the [[Ramsey House (Knox County, Tennessee)|Ramsey House]] in 1797.

Thus, while East Tennessee and greater Knox County voted decisively against secession in 1861, the city of Knoxville favored secession by a 2–1 margin. In late May 1861, just before the secession vote, delegates of the [[East Tennessee Convention]] met at Temperance Hall in Knoxville in hopes of keeping Tennessee in the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. After Tennessee voted to secede in June, the convention met in [[Greeneville, Tennessee|Greeneville]] and attempted to create a separate Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.<ref>MacArthur, ''Knoxville: Crossroads of the New South'', 42-44.</ref><ref>Eric Lacy, ''Vanquished Volunteers: East Tennessee Sectionalism from Statehood to Secession'' (Johnson City, Tenn.: East Tennessee State University Press, 1965), pp. 217–233.</ref>

[[File:SiegeofKnoxville.jpg|thumb|left|Photograph showing the aftermath of the siege of Knoxville, December 1863]]

[[File:Holstontreaty.JPG|thumb|Statue representing the signing of the Treaty of the Holston in downtown Knoxville]]In July 1861, after Tennessee had joined the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], General [[Felix Zollicoffer]] arrived in Knoxville as commander of the District of East Tennessee. While initially lenient toward the city's Union sympathizers, Zollicoffer instituted [[martial law]] in November, after pro-Union guerrillas [[East Tennessee bridge burnings|burned seven of the city's bridges]]. The command of the district passed briefly to [[George B. Crittenden|George Crittenden]] and then to [[Edmund Kirby Smith|Kirby Smith]], who launched an [[Confederate Heartland Offensive|unsuccessful invasion of Kentucky]] in August 1862. In early 1863, General [[Simon Bolivar Buckner|Simon Buckner]] took command of Confederate forces in Knoxville. Anticipating a Union invasion, Buckner fortified Fort Loudon (in West Knoxville, not to be confused with the [[Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)|colonial fort]] to the southwest) and began constructing earthworks throughout the city. However, the approach of stronger Union forces under [[Ambrose Burnside]] in the summer of 1863 forced Buckner to evacuate Knoxville before the earthworks were completed.<ref>Kim, ''The Sevierville Hill Site'', 10.</ref>

Burnside arrived in early September 1863, beginning the [[Knoxville campaign]]. Like the Confederates, he immediately began fortifying the city. The Union forces rebuilt Fort Loudon and erected 12 other forts and batteries flanked by entrenchments around the city. Burnside moved a pontoon bridge upstream from [[Loudon, Tennessee|Loudon]], allowing Union forces to cross the river and to build a series of forts along the heights of south Knoxville, including Fort Stanley and Fort Dickerson.<ref>Kim, ''The Sevierville Hill Site'', 10-12.</ref>

As Burnside was fortifying Knoxville, a Confederate army under [[Braxton Bragg]] defeated Union forces under [[William Rosecrans]] at the [[Battle of Chickamauga]] (near the Tennessee-Georgia line) and laid siege to [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]]. On November 3, 1863, the Confederates sent General [[James Longstreet]] to attack Burnside at Knoxville and prevent him from reinforcing the Union at Chattanooga. Longstreet wanted to attack the city from the south, but lacking the necessary pontoon bridges he was forced to cross the river further downstream at Loudon on November 14 and march against the city's heavily fortified western section. On November 15, General [[Joseph Wheeler]] unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Union forces in the heights of south Knoxville, and the following day Longstreet failed to cut off retreating Union forces at the [[Battle of Campbell's Station]] (now [[Farragut, Tennessee|Farragut]]).

On November 18, Union General [[William P. Sanders]] was mortally wounded while conducting delaying maneuvers west of Knoxville, and Fort Loudon was renamed Fort Sanders in his honor. On November 29, following a [[Siege of Knoxville|two-week siege]], the Confederates [[Battle of Fort Sanders|attacked Fort Sanders]] but failed after a fierce 20-minute engagement. On December 4, after word of the Confederate [[Chattanooga campaign|defeat at Chattanooga]] reached Longstreet, he broke his siege of Knoxville.<ref>Kim, ''The Sevierville Hill Site'', 15-17.</ref> The Union victories in the Knoxville campaign and at Chattanooga put much of East Tennessee under Union control for the rest of the war.