Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
November 10, 1863 - The Signal Corps transfers all telegraph equipment to the Military Telegraph Service as directed by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.
November 10, 1863 - Admiral John Dahlgren reports that in the past two weeks his ironclad squadron has delivered 9,036 artillery rounds into Fort Sumter and still this does not prompt a Confederate surrender.
November 10, 1863 - In the Straits of Sunda off Java, the CSS Alabama is successful in capturing and burning the Union clipper ship 'Winged Racer' and the Union clipper 'Contest' is captured and burned in the Gasper Straits the next day.
November 11, 1863 - At Chattanooga, Confederate President Davis warned General Braxton Bragg to: "not allow the enemy to get up all his reinforcements before striking him, if it can be avoided."
November 12, 1863 - The weather and marching conditions continue to be a problem as Generals James Longstreet and Joseph Wheeler mass their respective commands at Loudon, Tennessee and begin to move toward Knoxville.
November 12, 1863 - The Union batteries and ironclads continue to bombard Fort Sumter.
November 14, 1863 - General Longstreet begins crossing the Tennessee River at Loudon. He directs General Wheeler to move his cavalry toward the Holston River southeast of Knoxville, which effectively takes his best fighting force out of the skirmishing and small engagements that erupt as they move toward Knoxville. Union General Ambrose Burnside supervises the evacuation of 5,000 Union troops from Louden and begins to move them to Knoxville.
November 15, 1863 - General Wheeler arrives across the Holston River from the Knoxville heights. He decides that the Union force is too strong to attack and withdraws.
November 15, 1863 - General Burnside and General Longstreet slog through the mud on parallel routes to Knoxville, sometimes within a mile of each other. Both are aware of the other force and the race is on. Both forces encamp at Lenoir for the night.
November 15, 1863 - After a 675 mile trip by rail, boat, and road, General Sherman arrives at Bridgeport, Alabama with four divisions (17,000 men) destined as a relief force at Chattanooga. Sherman rides ahead, arrives in Chattanooga and begins a personal reconnaissance of the northern end of Missionary Ridge, near the right wing of Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee.
November 16, 1863 - Departing Lenoir, Tennessee in the early morning darkness, both armies dispatch mounted forces ahead of their infantry to capture Campbell's Station, ten miles ahead. General Burnside, knowing the importance of gaining the Campbell's Station crossroad, burns his baggage and supply wagons and arrives 15 minutes ahead of General Longstreet. Confederate Generals Evander M. Laws and Lafayette McLaws are dispatched to hit the Union right but Burnsides detects the move and falls back. When General Laws attacks the adjusted Union line, he is repulsed and beaten back. General Longstreet concedes Campbell's Station but moves on toward Knoxville, planning to besiege the city.
