Do They Miss Me at Home?: The Civil War Letters of William McKnight, Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry

4. Going for Dixie (August 25, 1863–March 28, 1864)

 121 4 Going for Dixie (August 25, 1863–March 28, 1864) Up until this point,McKnight and the Seventh OhioVolunteer Cavalry were organizing and preparing for battle, seeing only limited action in Kentucky. During the fall of 1863 and the following winter, however, McKnight’s unit would be “going for Dixie.” Although McKnight refers to this region as Dixie in his letters, many in easternTennessee remained loyal to the Union cause. Prior to the war, eastern Tennessee had voted against secession—out of 48,000 votes cast, 33,000 were opposed to separation.1 During the war, many Confederate leaders questioned the allegiance of eastern Tennessee. In a note to President Jefferson Davis, General A. G. Graham stated, “Civil war has broken out at the length of EastTennessee....They look confidently for the re-establishment of the Federal authority in the South with as much confidence as the Jews look for the coming of the Messiah.”2 Colonel W. B.Wood also summarized the situation in eastern Tennessee in a letter to Judah Philip Benjamin, Confederate secretary of war, “I have been here at this station for three months, half the time in command of the post, and I have had a good opportunity of learning the feeling pervading this country. It is hostile to the Confederate Government.”3 In early 1862, Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith of the Army of East Tennessee declared, “East Tennessee is an enemy’s country.” You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. going for dixie  122 McKnight’s letters written during the winter months of 1863–64 provide detailed and vivid accounts of several battles and skirmishes. Throughout this time, the Seventh engaged the Confederates in eastern and southern Tennessee at Beans Station, Creeks Cross Road, Dandridge, Knoxville, and Mossy Creek. McKnight’s letter dated September 14, 1863, also describes the operations and events that led to the capture of the Cumberland Gap—the strategic thoroughfare referred to as the “gateway to East Tennessee.” Collectively, these actions were part of the larger effort to remove the Confederates from easternTennessee. One of the most compelling descriptions McKnight pens is that of the losses of his“beloved”Captain Joel P. Higley and good friend Levi Little in the battle of Blue Springs (October 1863). A month later, the Union forces at Rogersville (November 1863) were routed by the Confederate forces under General James Longstreet. During the demoralizing defeat, more than five hundred Union soldiers were captured, including many from McKnight’s unit. Some of these men were eventually sent to the infamous Andersonville prison in Georgia. Israel Garrard, commander of the Seventh, briefly described the affair in a brief note to General Burnside: “I was attacked this a.m. and totally defeated. I lost my guns and two-thirds of my command; rebel force not known, as they were continually sending troops forward. I think the whole of the Second Tenneessee is lost. About one-half of the Seventh [Ohio] Cavalry is lost.”4 Daniel Carpenter of the Second EastTennessee Mounted Infantry had a different opinion of the fighting at Rogersville; he claimed that the Seventh Ohio troops acted shamefully and were in full retreat, with some of the men throwing down their weapons in great confusion.5 In the same report, Carpenter requested an inquiry into Colonel Garrard’s actions, suggesting that Garrard left the battlefield, leaving Carpenter’s men to either flee, die, or be taken prisoner.6 In his letters, McKnight also shares several accounts of the destruction and poverty that the Seventh encountered in Tennessee. McKnight previously (June 24, 1863) had confessed that the citizens in eastern Tennessee were “destitute of many You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. August 25, 1863–March 28, 1864  123 nesesaries of life salt there was none one man offered ten dollars in Sesesh money for Coffee enough for suffer the early Harvest all ready being but wil relieve the poor suffering women and children.There are few men left many women and children just shouted when they found out who we were. . . . As a general...