Living History weekend at Ft. Dickerson set for Oct. 29-30

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Civil War in East Tennessee, Fort Dickerson, Knoxville Civil War Rountable

Fort Dickerson, the Civil War earthwork atop a hill on Knoxville’s southern riverfront will once again be populated with soldiers in blue and gray as the Knoxville Civil War
Roundtable and the City of Knoxville present a Living History weekend on October 29
and 30, 2017.

Local re-enacting units, historians, and authors alike will commemorate the Siege of Knoxville that took place in November of 1863.

The free event is sponsored by the City of Knoxville’s Parks and Recreation Department and hosted by the Civil War Roundtable. Fort Dickerson Park is located just off Chapman Highway in South Knoxville at 3000 Fort Dickerson Road.

The Living History Weekend will run from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 29, and from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., Sunday, October 30. Activities will include living
history campsites, infantry drilling with rifle firing demonstrations, a Civil War medical
and surgical exhibit, ladies fashions, battle reenactments, cannon firings, and a salute to all veterans.

Visitors are invited to park for free at Disc Exchange across from Shoneys, where they can ride a free shuttle to Fort Dickerson.

Fort Dickerson was one of sixteen earthen forts and battery positions surrounding
Knoxville that were built by the United States Army during the Civil War. It was one of
three constructed upon the heights across the Holston (now Tennessee) River from
Knoxville, the other two being Fort Stanley and Fort Higley.

The middle fort was named for Captain Jonathan C. Dickerson, 112th Illinois Mounted
Infantry, who was killed in action near Cleveland Tennessee.

For more information on this event as well as Civil War History in Knoxville, contact Event Coordinator Tom Wright at 865-482- 1680 thomaswright8@comcast.net or Re-enactor Coordinator Perry Hill at 865-283- 1691 or cpthill63rdtn@yahoo.com.

Tentative schedule of activities:

Saturday, October 29, 2017
10:00 am – Camps open to public
11:00 am – Ladies Fashions
11:30 am – Mustering in/Infantry Drill
12:00 pm -Civil War Arms
12:30 PM – MEDICAL DEMONSTRATION
1:00 PM – FIFE AND DRUM
1:30 PM – HISTORY OF FORT DICKERSON
2:00 PM – BATTLE OF FORT DICKERSON
3:00 PM – PASS IN REVIEW
3:30 PM – MEDICAL DEMO
4:30 PM – CAMPS CLOSE TO PUBLIC

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2017
11:00 AM – CAMPS OPEN TO PUBLIC
12:00 PM -CIVIL WAR ARMS
12:30 PM – INFANTRY DRILL/FIFE AND DRUM
1:00 PM – CIVIL WAR MEDICAL DEMONSTRATION
1:30 PM – HISTORY SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE
2:00 PM – CIVIL WAR SKIRMISH
3:00 PM – PASS IN REVIEW
4:00 PM – CAMPS CLOSE TO PUBLIC

Brian McKnight tells KCWRT about the life of Champ Ferguson

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Brian McKnight, Champ Ferguson, Civil War, Civil War in East Tennessee, Civil War partisams, Clinton County KY, Knoxville Civil War Rountable, partisan fighting

Historian Brian McKnight, professor at the University of Virginia-Wise, told the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable on Tuesday that partisan fighter and Confederate outlaw Champ Ferguson was a man who saw the world as “black or white.”

“You were either for him or against him,” McKnight said.

And if he thought you were against him, McKnight added, he would probably try to kill you.

Here’s a video (less than three minutes) of some of McKnight’s remarks:

 

Brian McKnight speaks to the KCWRT about Champ Ferguson from Jim Stovall on Vimeo.

 

McKnight made these additional points about Ferguson:

James Longstreet

Tags

Ambrose Burnside, Battle of the Wilderness, Braxton Bragg, Centreville, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Civil War in East Tennessee, Civil War in Knoxville, Fredericksburg, Ft. Sanders, George McClellan, Gettysburg, James Longstreet, Jefferson Davis, Joseph Hooker, Manassas Junction, Robert E. Lee. George Pickett, Rutherford B. Hayes, T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, United States Military Academy, West Point

By J. C. Tumblin, O.D., Past President, Knoxville Civil War Roundtable

Copyright 1998 by J. C. Tumlbin All rights reserved.

James Longstreet

CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, AND WEST POINT YEARS (1821- 1842)

James Longstreet was born the fifth child of James and Mary Ann Dent Longstreet, on January 8, 1821, in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. His mother had traveled to her mother-in-law’s home for his birth. Both of his parents, owners of a cotton plantation near present-day Gainesville in the Piedmont section of northeastern Georgia, were descendants of families dating to the colonial period — James born in New Jersey, Mary Ann in Maryland. The future general always regarded Georgia as his home, as he came there within weeks of his birth and spent the first nine years of his life there. It had required hard physical labor and resilience to carve a farm out of the forest and wilderness that had been the frontier only a few years previous. Under the tutelage of his older brother and sister, William and Anna, young James rode horseback, hunted, fished, and developed the strong physique that would characterize him throughout life. He also developed self-confidence, self-reliance, and a work ethic.