Civil War Sourcebook: The East Tennessee Campaign Paperback – March 27, 2023

The advance of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s Army of the Ohio into East Tennessee in late August 1863 brought welcome relief to the pro-Union people who had suffered much during two years of Confederate occupation. General Burnside’s troops swept across the upper Cumberland Plateau into East Tennessee, taking control with little more than a few minor skirmishes as Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Simon B. Buckner withdrew southward to join Gen. Braxton Bragg in the Chickamauga Campaign south of the Hiwassee River.While Union objectives in the East Tennessee Campaign were accomplished in only 20 days, preparing for the Campaign took place over several months. This sourcebook compiles relevant dispatches and reports from the time that General Burnside was appointed to command the Department of the Ohio on March 16, 1863, until Confederate forces were driven out of upper East Tennessee in late October 1863. Relevant records from the early months of Burnside’s command are included to allow the reader to see the many command, organizational, and tactical challenges that were faced. Confederate records are included from the time that General Buckner was ordered to take command of the Department of East Tennessee on April 27, 1863. Readers will note that Buckner faced many of the same challenges as Burnside as he prepared to defend East Tennessee.Merging the details of primary sources that have often been overlooked by Civil War authors and historians into the official records of the Civil War results in a highly accurate account of the movements and actions of both Union and Confederate forces during the East Tennessee Campaign.Several full-length reports are included in the Appendix that provide personal views and recollections of selected commanders, both Union and Confederate, during the Campaign. Read more