Appalachian History Series
Blountville, the old Sullivan County seat on the road between Knoxville and Bristol, saw a sharp engagement on September 22, 1863. The fight came amid Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s East Tennessee operations, when Federal mounted troops probed toward the Virginia line to secure the railroad and pressure Confederate forces back toward the Holston River and the saltworks beyond.
Setting the stage
Burnside told President Abraham Lincoln the next day that one of his cavalry brigades had “a sharp fight yesterday at Blountsville,” pairing it with contact at Bristol. He noted that Col. J. P. T. Carter and Col. John W. Foster figured prominently and that the enemy had been handled well at both places. The department commander’s telegram confirms timing and purpose, and it shows how closely the skirmishing around Bristol and Blountville were linked.
Two days before the battle, Union troops entered Bristol. A period compilation in the Tennessee State Library and Archives Civil War Sourcebook reproduces the official itinerary entry for that date, which situates Foster’s brigade on the Virginia border and in contact with Confederate forces in the same operating area that would flare again at Blountville.
On the Confederate side, Gen. Samuel Jones reported from Zollicoffer on September 24 that Federal troops had been active in the district and “last night they retired from Blountsville.” His dispatch confirms a brief Union thrust through the town followed by a pullback to positions nearer the Watauga, consistent with a raid to push Confederate screens and test the line toward Virginia.
The four hour fight
At midday on September 22, Union cavalry and horse artillery under Col. John W. Foster attacked Confederate forces commanded by Col. James E. Carter in and around Blountville. Federal guns posted on the high ground at Cemetery Hill south of town opened the action by shelling Confederate positions in the streets, setting buildings on fire as the lines closed. Contemporary and official summaries agree that the fight lasted about four hours. By late afternoon Federal flanking and pressure compelled the Confederates to withdraw through the town.
The town suffered for its position on the road and near the railroad. Marker texts and local documentation note that the interior of the Sullivan County Courthouse was burned during the action, a detail long preserved in on-site interpretation.
Aftermath and significance
The Blountville engagement ended in a Union tactical victory. The National Park Service’s battle summary lists the action within the East Tennessee Campaign, credits Foster and Carter as principal commanders, and gives an estimated total of 192 casualties. The short, violent clash formed one link in the larger Union effort to clear routes to Virginia while Confederate commanders weighed how to contest East Tennessee that fall.
Burnside’s message to Lincoln framed Blountville and Bristol as quick, coordinated blows. Jones’s correspondence two days later places a Confederate lens on the same episode and shows that Federal forces did not permanently occupy the town, which fits the pattern of mounted columns testing and unhinging advanced posts rather than holding every mile of road. Read together, the two primary accounts offer a concise, opposing-sides view of what happened at Blountville.
For campaign context, modern scholarship emphasizes that these September probes helped set conditions for the October fighting at Blue Springs and for the subsequent maneuvering that led to the Knoxville siege. The Essential Civil War Curriculum is a solid overview of the campaign’s phases and bibliography, with Earl J. Hess’s monograph widely regarded as the standard study.
Blountville on the landscape
Blountville’s historic core is listed as the Blountville Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places, reflecting its architectural fabric and its role as the county seat that witnessed the 1863 fighting. The nomination file provides site context and a references section useful for further local research.
The battlefield is recognized in the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission inventory as site TN019. The National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program update for Tennessee catalogs preservation status statewide and is the reference framework that includes Blountville among documented sites.
Visiting today
Interpretive signs stand at key points. “Federal Guns on Cemetery Hill” explains the Union artillery position that opened the fight, while courthouse-area markers discuss the action’s impact inside town. These waypoints make it straightforward to trace the engagement on foot beginning at the courthouse square and then heading south to the cemetery ridge.
Sources and Further Reading
U. S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion. Gen. Samuel Jones to President Davis, Zollicoffer, September 24, 1863. Series I, Vol. 30, Part IV, p. 702. Confirms Federal activity and retirement from Blountville on the night of the 23rd. Portal to Texas History. The Portal to Texas History
Ambrose E. Burnside to Abraham Lincoln, telegram received September 23, 1863. Notes a “sharp fight” at Blountsville and successful actions at Blountsville and Bristol. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 6, Quod Library. Quod
TSLA Civil War Sourcebook. “Near Blountsville, September 19 [1863]: Occupation of Bristol.” Provides immediate pre-battle context from period reports in the same operating area. Tennessee State Library and Archives. National Park Service
National Park Service, CWSAC Battle Detail, “Blountsville (TN019).” Official summary with commanders, date, casualties, and result. National Park Service
American Battlefield Protection Program, Update to the CWSAC Report: State of Tennessee (Dec. 2009). Statewide battlefield inventory that includes Blountville’s listing and preservation status. NPS History
NRHP Nomination, Blountville Historic District. Architectural and historical context for the town and courthouse square. NPGallery
Essential Civil War Curriculum, “The Knoxville Campaign,” ed. Daniel F. O’Connell. Campaign overview and bibliography. essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com
Earl J. Hess, The Knoxville Campaign: Burnside and Longstreet in East Tennessee (University of Tennessee Press, 2012). Modern scholarly synthesis of the operations around Blountville and Blue Springs. Publisher page. utpress.org
Tennessee Civil War Trails, on-site interpretation at Blountville, including the “Federal Guns on Cemetery Hill” panel and courthouse marker texts. HMdb entries provide transcriptions and locations. HMDB+1