10
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11. 1963
A1EOFORO MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON
The Battle of Fort Sanders
By MERTON T. AKERS
United Press International
For reasons not clear after
100 years and perhaps not even
clear to himself then, Confed
erate Gen. Braxton Bragg di
vided his army before Chatlan.
ooca, Tenn., in November 1863
and sent part of it on a wild
goose chase to Knoxvillc, Tenn.
Federal troops under Maj.
Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside had
occupied Knoxville on Sept. 2.
Burnside was the general who
had charged his army up the
heights at Fredericksburg, Va.,
in December '62 to a crushing
defeat. Now he was the "liber
ator" 'of East Tennessee, the
area of considerable union sen-
, timent which President Lincoln
had been trying to occupy since
the start of the war.
' Bragg divided his forces at
! a time when Maj. Gen. U.S.
Grant, commanding the Union
forces there, had broken the
Confederate hold on his supply
'line and was assembling rein
forcements. Grant was a gen
eral who could be depended up
on to attack early and often.
: Bragg knew that but split his
army anyway, Robert E. Lee
could do that in front of George
B. McClellan and win. But
Bragg was no Lee and Grant
was no McClellan.
The force sent by Bragg to
dispose of Burnside was com
manded by Lt. Gen. James
Longstreet and consisted of two
divisions totalling about 12,000
men. These were the troops
Longstreet had brought from
the Army of Northern Virginia
ARMY DIVIDED In November, 1803, for reasons still not clear,
Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg divided his army before Chatta
nooga and sent part of it on a wild goose chase to Knoxville.
On Nov. 5-6, 1863, Bragg sent a force under Lt. Gen. James
Longstreet to oust Federal troops under Mai. Gen. Ambrose E.
Burnside from Knoxville. The attempt to take the city failed,
with the main action coming in a battle at Fort Sanders, one
of two Federal outposts nearby. After the defeat, Longstreet
received wora lhat Bragg had been defeated by Grant at Chatta
nooga. Both wings of the split army had been beaten. Here, in
photos from the Department of Interior, are Bragg, left, and
ngstreei, rignt. tun)
at the time of the battle of
Chickamauga.
That was about half enough
men, Longstreet thought, for
the expedition against Burn
side who had about 22,000
protected by fortifications.
Longstreet Worried
Longstreet left the Chattan
ooga lines on Nov. 5 - 6 and
marched slowly toward Knox
ville. He was not cheerful about
the move.
"Twenty thousand men, well
handled, could surely have cap-
Your Money's
Worth
By SYLVIA PORTER
CWr'l. Hill Syndicala, lot.
NEITHER INFLATION NOR DEFLATION
We in the United States are still in one of the most remarkably
prolonged periods of comparative price stability in modern his
tory. What is happening here is not inflation in the sense that in
flation is a broad upsweep in prices due to the pressure of too
much money seeking too few goods.
What is happening here is not deflation in the sense that
deflation is a broad downswecp in prices due to the pressure of
too many goods chasing too few dollars.
Your cost of living is still rising, yes primarily because of
increases in the cost of such services as medical care, auto in
surance, household maintenance but the climb in a full year
has been less than 1 per cent. The buying power of your dollar
is still slipping, yes, but at a rate far below the rate of rise in
your total paycheck.
We have been in a cycle of ncither-inflation-nor-deflation for
years and we'll remain in it during the months directly ahead.
Because of the recent "wavelet" of price hikes, there is con
idei'able confusion about what's going on. Here's a simple question-answer
report to clarify the picture.
Q.t Exactly what Is happenlne to prices in Ilic V. S. now?
A.: Some prices, which have been too weak in u'te past several
years, are firming at last. Many prices which had been unoffi
cially cut below list levels through discounts and "deals" are
back to list.
At the same time, there have been price markdowns to offset
the markups. Many price hikes announced during the "wavelet"
of September-October already have died a quiet death in infancy.
What has occurred so far is welcomed by most objective econ
omists as a sign of a healthy, solid economy.
Q.i What do the Indexes show?
A.: In contrast to the scare headlines, stability.
The consumer price index is sticking around 107.1, less than
1 per cent above the fall of 1962. This means it costs $1.07 to buy
the marketbasket of goods and services that $1 bought back in
1957-59 hardly major inflation.
At the wholesale level, the steadiness of prices has been nothing
short of sensational. The index has scarcely budged for five
years, is now at 100.4 against a base of 100 in 1957-59.
Q.: Why Is inflation under wraps?
A.: Because industry has ample capacity to produce; manu
facturers are operating today at 85 per cent of capacity, 7 points
below the so-called comi'ortnbie rate. Because supplies of just
about everything are readily available. Because competition is
fierce and not only businessmen at home but also aggressive
manufacturers abroad are fighting for our dollar. Because un
employment continues high even though the jobless rate for
married men is way clown and new workers are entering the
labor force at the fastest rale in history. Because businessmen
arc taking the toughest attitude in years toward union demands
for steep wage hikes and arc putting a real lid on costs.
Q.: Why docs the White House express "concern" then?
A.: The reason s that the higher price trend might spread
throughout the economy If businessmen decide their "tests" of
our attitudes indicate we'll take the increases. The worry Is not
about what is hut about what might be. Our stable prices have
substantially improved our competitive position in the world's
markets and we cannot afford a setback in our export drive
Any price spiral also would revive the danger of a wage spiral
put us back into a vicious Icaplrog of priccs-wagcs-priccs-WHB.es'
Q.: What's the outlook?
A.: The prospect Is that prices will continue to advance only
moderately but assuming the lax cut accelerates the economy
the pace of advance could quicken. Then concern would be dis
tinctly justified.
As of today, though, inflation in Ihe sense of too many dollars
seeking too few goods and thus sending prices skyrocketing is
just not on the horizon.
turcd Burnside and his forces,"
ne wrote.
"Under the present arrange
ments, however, the lines are
to be held as they now are (at
Chattanooga) and the detach
ment is to be 12,000. We thus
expose both to failure, and real
ly take no chance to ourselves
of great results."
Why Bragg divided his forces
at a time when Grant was ga
thering strength remains some
thing of a mystery.
President Jefferson Davis
who earlier had visited the Con
federate army, suggested to
Bragg that "you might advan
tageously assign General Long
street with his two divisions to
the task of expelling Burnside."
Bragg wrote to Davis later
that "the Virginia troops will
move in the direction indicated
as soon as practicable. This
will be. a great relief to me."
wnethor Brace's "exeat re
lief" was to get rid of Long
street, with whom he had quar
relled, or whether he felt the
Knoxville expedition would drain
off a big portion of Grant's
troops to Burnside's relief, re
mains unanswered.
Skirmishing
Longstreet's trooos arrivprt at
the permitcr of the Knoxvillc
defenses on Nov. 17 but it was
Nov. 29 before he attacked
The 12 days were used to probe
me ncienscs. Skirmishing was
continuous. Longstreet was re
inforced by two brigades of
cavalry from southwest Vir
ginia and about 3,5(li troops
from Bragg's army. This addi
tion brought his force to about
20,000 men. 1
The chief Union defenses of
me city were two forts to the
west Fort Sanders, named for
Brig. Gen. William P. Sanders
wno nad been killed a few days
uwure in a rear guard action
and Fort Byington. These forts
were hastily built but strong.
Longstreet decided to attack
Fort Sanders. (The Confeder
ates called it Fort Loudon he.
cause they had started it under
mat name before thev ahnn.
doncd the city.)
The Attack
Brig. Gen. Orlando M. Poc,
Union engineer who had built
Fort Sanders, described the
battle.
"About fi a.m. on Sunday No
vember 29th, the enemy opened
a heavy artillery fire unon Fort
Sanders, to which no reply was
made, because our limited sup
ply of ammunition made it ne
cessary to reserve it for use at
a more critical moment. The
fire continued about twenty
minutes and then slackened,
whereupon the (Confederate)
columns moved to the assault,
and were nt once met by all
the fire that could be concen-
unica upon mem irom our
lines.
"Encountering the wire en
tanglements (telegraph wire
strung on tree stumps), their
organization was somewhat dis
turbed, but the movement was
not seriously checked thereby,
nor did the slight abatis (shar
pened tree limbs) retard it.
"Although suffering from the
terribly destructive fire . . .
they soon reached Ihe outer
brink of the ditch. There could
be no pause at that moment,
leaping into the ditch in such
numbers as nearly to fill it,
they endeavored to scale the
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THIS
WAS THE
CIVIL
walls. Having no scaling lad
ders, a portion of the men,
scrambling over the shoulders
of their comrades, planted the
battle flags of the 13th and 17th
Mississippi and the 16th Geor
gia upon the parapet, but every
man who rallied to them was
either killed or captured, and
the flags were taken.
"Meanwhile those who re
mained in the ditch found them
selves under a deadly flank fire
of musketry and canister, with
out the slightest possibility of
returning a blow. Advance and
retreat were about equally dif
ficult, and it needed but a very
short exposure to convince them
that if any were to leave the
ditch alive it' could only be by
the promptest surrender.
"Those ' who were able to
walk were brought through the
ditch . . . and entered our lines
as prisoners. Such of the as
saulting forces as had not en
tered the ditch fell back, at
first sullenly and slowly, but
flesh and blood could not stand
the storm of shot and shell that
was poured on them, and they
soon broke into confused retreat."
WAR
Losses
A supporting brigade arrived
about that time and attacked
to the left but -was repulsed.
The attacks lasted about 40
minutes.
The assaulting" CjnfotioflaQ
had lain all night without fires
waning tor aawn. The temper
ature was near freezing and a
fine mist was falling.
Union losses wprp- W lrilln1-
394 wounded; 207 captured or
missing; total, 693. Confederate
losses: 182 killed; 768 wounded;
iad captured or missing; total
i.tiz. (i-avalry losses not in
Cal Tech Laboratory Records Earthquake
PASADENA, Calif (UPI) 1 80 miles below the earth's sur
An earthquake with a magni-1 face. The direction was unde:
Advertisement
tude of 6.8 on the Richter scale
was recorded Saturday at the
Seismological. laboratory of the
California Institute of Technol
ogy. Dr. Charles Richter said the
quake occurred about 4,000
miles from here at a depth of
termined. He said a tremor of
such magnitude often was felt
over a wide area ana couiu
cause extensive damage in a
populated area.
Oxygen is about 16 times as
heavy as hydrogen.
eluded were estimated at ., ,
As Longstreet Hphatpri wno.
ther to renew the attack he re
ceived word that Bragg's army
had been defeated at Chattan
ooga by Grant and was retreat
ins into Georgia. Hp was nr.
dered to retreat to Bragg's ar
my but before the order could
be carried nut. Rraaa aHvicoH
him that Union reinforcements
were on their way to Knoxville.
Longstreet remained around
Knoxville until Dec. 4 and then
withdrew ahead of Union rein
forcements into Eastern Ten
nessee and eventually into Vir
ginia. What Longstreet had feared
had happened. Both wings
of the divided army had been
defeated.
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