page_title: Knox County, Tennessee
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Knox County, Tennessee / History / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph depicting a view of Knoxville, Tennessee as seen from the south bank of the Tennessee River, shot just after the end of the Siege of Knoxville. Photo taken by George N. Barnard, December 1863. Title: Knoxville, Tenn. Environs of Knoxville seen from south bank of Tennessee River; East Tennessee University in middle distance Summary: Photograph of the War in the West. These photographs are of the Siege of Knoxville, November-December 1863. The difficult strategic situation of the Federal armies after Chicamauga enabled Bragg to detach a force under Longstreet which aimed to drive Burnside out of East Tennessee and did shut him up in Knoxville, which he defended successfully. These views, taken after Longstreet's withdrawal on December 3, include one of Strawberry Plains, which was on his line of retreat. Here we have part of an army record; Barnard was photographer of the chief engineer's office, Military Division of the Mississippi, and his views were transmitted with the report of the chief engineer of Burnside's army, April 11, 1864.
context_page_description: Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 432,226, making it the third-most populous county in Tennessee. It ranks as the 153rd-most populous county or county-equivalent in the nation. Its county seat is Knoxville, which is the third-most populous city in Tennessee.
  Knox County is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area. The county is located at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee. Near the heart of the county is the origin of the Tennessee River, at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers.
context_section_description: Important railroad lines passed through Knox County, making it a strategic area to control by both Union and Confederate forces throughout the Civil War. Since the mountainous terrain of East Tennessee was mostly unsuitable for plantation crops such as cotton, slavery was not as prevalent as it was in Middle and West Tennessee. The US 1860 census of Knox County showed a population of 20,020 white citizens and 2,370 enslaved African Americans. The lack of slavery combined with the vestiges of a once strong abolitionist movement in the region were two of the reasons that most residents of Knox County, along with much of East Tennessee, were pro-Union.  In February 1861, 89% of Knox Countians voted for the pro-Union ballot in a statewide referendum on secession. On June 8, 1861, the county voted against Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession by a margin of 3,108 to 1,226.
  Prior to secession, Unionists from Knox County collaborated with other East Tennessee Unionists in an attempt to secede from Tennessee itself and remain part of the Union. Oliver Perry Temple, a Knoxville lawyer, was named to a 3-man commission to appear before the General Assembly in Nashville and request East Tennessee and pro-Union Middle Tennessee counties be allowed to secede from the state. The attempt failed. After the second state referendum for secession passed in 1861, Knox County and the rest of Tennessee joined the Confederacy.
  Knox County remained under Confederate control until September 3, 1863, when General Ambrose Burnside and the Union army marched into Knoxville unopposed. Parts of Middle Tennessee had been occupied by Union troops since 1862.
  Union Colonel William Harris, son of New York Senator Ira Harris, wrote his father:
  'Glory be to God, the Yankees have come! The flag's come back to Tennessee!' Such were the welcomes all along the road, as we entered Knoxville, it was past all description. The people seemed frantic with joy. I never knew what the Love of Liberty was before. The old flag has been hidden in mattresses and under carpets. It now floats to the breeze at every staff in East Tennessee. Ladies wear it -- carry it -- wave it! Little children clap their hands and kiss it.
  With the success of Burnside's troops in the Knoxville Campaign, and especially during the decisive Battle of Fort Sanders, Knox County remained under Union control for the duration of the Civil War.
caption: View from the south bank of the Tennessee River by Union photographer George C. Barnard after the end of the Siege of Knoxville, December 1863. Source: Library of Congress
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