Campbell's Station: The Retreat That Saved Knoxville

The crossroads that stood near here in November of eighteen sixty-three was one of the most important pieces of ground in East Tennessee. Whoever controlled it could control whether a Union army got back to Knoxville alive.

In early November of that year, Confederate General James Longstreet was detached from the Army of Tennessee near Chattanooga with two divisions and roughly five thousand cavalry. His assignment was to drive Union Major General Ambrose Burnside out of Knoxville and reclaim East Tennessee for the Confederacy.

Burnside retreated from the south with Longstreet pursuing. Both commanders understood that Campbell's Station, a crossroads on the road to Knoxville, was the decisive point. If Longstreet reached it first and held it, Burnside would be cut off, forced to fight on open ground without fortifications. If Burnside reached it first, he could continue to Knoxville and its earthworks.

On November sixteenth, eighteen sixty-three, it became a race. Burnside's lead division arrived at the crossroads and turned to face the Confederates approaching from two directions. The fighting lasted through the afternoon. The Confederates pressed hard, forcing the Union lines back from five separate positions. But Burnside's men held just long enough, making each fighting withdrawal in good order before slipping away toward Knoxville.

Casualties were roughly four hundred Union and five hundred seventy Confederate. The tactical victory belonged to neither side. The strategic result clearly favored Burnside: he reached Knoxville, entered his fortifications, and withstood a siege until Union reinforcements arrived in early December. Longstreet's campaign failed.

The community at this crossroads is now called Farragut, named for the Union admiral David Farragut, who was born nearby. The battle that happened here is largely forgotten by the people who drive through it every day.