Appalachian History Series
On the foggy morning of November 6, 1863, Confederate cavalry swept into Rogersville and struck the Union outposts along Big Creek. The short fight ended with Federal batteries and wagon trains in Confederate hands, hundreds of prisoners on the road south, and a shaken Union command regrouping toward Morristown and Knoxville. Contemporary reports from both sides make clear that surprise and coordination decided the day.
Setting and stakes
Rogersville sat on the Holston River road network that fed Union garrisons between Cumberland Gap and Knoxville. In early November 1863 Federal mounted troops and light infantry guarded the town and nearby crossings while Major General Ambrose Burnside concentrated around Knoxville. Confederate mounted columns operating out of southwestern Virginia watched those posts closely and planned a blow that would unsettle Burnside’s screen before James Longstreet moved against Knoxville. The Official Records group the skirmishes and the “Action near Rogersville” within the Knoxville and East Tennessee operations for late 1863.
Regional maps compiled after the war place Rogersville on the Holston with roads running west toward Bean’s Station and south toward the river crossings. Those plates help visualize how mounted columns could converge from the north and east while other parties blocked Union escape routes.
Orders and plan
Confederate correspondence and reports printed in the Official Records describe the intent to strike at daylight with converging mounted brigades. In the sequence of Rogersville documents the Confederate side includes department orders, district instructions, and detailed brigade narratives from the officers who led the attack. Together they show a plan to surround the Federal camps, cut the roads, and fall on the town from multiple directions as morning broke.
March in the night
Participants described columns moving quietly through Surgoinsville and Carter’s Valley in the dark, men dismounting to feel for fords and picket lines, then taking positions before dawn. Those movements placed the Confederate brigades to close on Rogersville from the valleys north and northeast of town while detachments covered the approaches toward the Holston. The sequence appears in the Confederate brigade reports for the action and in staff statements preserved with them.
Dawn at Big Creek
At first light on November 6 firing flared along Big Creek and at the Federal picket posts east of town. Confederate cavalry pressed into Rogersville, overran camps, and pushed quickly on the guns that anchored the Union position. The compiled “Action near Rogersville” section in the Official Records presents the Union narratives first, then the Confederate side, which makes the contrast vivid. The Federal colonel on the spot reported an early morning attack, camps broken, and a rapid loss of control.
From Morristown later that day Colonel Israel Garrard telegraphed that he had been struck in the morning and “totally defeated,” reporting the loss of his artillery and a large part of his command. That contemporary message circulated quickly in Federal channels and was later excerpted by Tennessee’s state archives.
Captured camps, guns, and wagons
Confederate brigade reports credit the operation with capturing several hundred prisoners along with wagon trains, commissary stores, and the entire Federal battery on the ground. Four rifled pieces identified as James pattern guns from Battery M, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, fell into Confederate hands. Confederate officers also described seizing teams and harness, a valuable haul for fast-moving columns operating on lean supply.
Illinois’s postwar adjutant general volumes corroborate the loss at Rogersville for Battery M and trace the unit’s subsequent re-equipping, a reminder that the fight had administrative ripples long after the guns changed hands.
Who fought here
On the Union side the Official Records place elements of the 7th Ohio Cavalry, the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry, the 34th Kentucky Infantry, and Battery M, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, in and around Rogersville during the action and the days surrounding it. Regimental summaries and later state registers help confirm officer names and service notes for those units.
On the Confederate side the narrative is anchored by Brigadier General William E. “Grumble” Jones, with mounted brigades under Colonel Henry L. Giltner and Colonel James M. Corns among those filing detailed reports. Their accounts emphasize the night approach, the close work of dismounted troopers in town streets and along Big Creek, and the swift consolidation of prisoners and rolling stock once the camps collapsed.
Aftermath and meaning
In the weeks that followed, Union cavalry leaders reminded superiors that the same Confederate command that defeated them at Rogersville was still in the theater, and they recorded later meetings in which they tried to return the favor. Brigadier General James M. Shackelford’s correspondence with Major General John G. Parke in December pointed back to the November reverse as a lesson for subsequent operations on the Holston and toward Bean’s Station.
State and heritage interpretations today summarize Rogersville as a sharp Confederate victory that disrupted Union logistics and morale on the eve of the Knoxville campaign fighting. Trail signage and state materials steer visitors to the creek crossings, approaches, and ground where those morning movements unfolded.
Visiting the ground today
Modern guides encourage a loop that includes downtown Rogersville, the Big Creek area, and nearby approaches toward Bean’s Station. Those stops align with the roads and crossings shown on the Official Records atlas, which helps translate the 1863 narratives to present-day terrain.
Sources and further reading
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. 31, Part I, Reports. See “Action near Rogersville, Tennessee, November 6, 1863” for Union and Confederate reports, including the sequence listing reports by Brig. Gen. W. E. Jones, Col. J. M. Corns, and Col. H. L. Giltner. Civil War+2Civil War+2
Col. Israel Garrard to superior officers, Morristown, Tenn., Nov. 6, 1863, contemporary printed dispatch noting defeat at Rogersville and loss of guns and a large part of his command, Tennessee State Library and Archives Civil War Sourcebook. Share Tn Gov
Brig. Gen. J. M. Shackelford to Maj. Gen. Parke, December 10–11, 1863, referencing the November reverse and subsequent operations in the same theater, Official Records, Series I, Vol. 31, context around p. 413–414 in the Portal to Texas History scan. The Portal to Texas History
Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, plates covering East Tennessee and the Holston River approaches to Rogersville.
Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, 1861–1866 (Reece), entries for Battery M, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, noting Rogersville and post-action status.
Official Army registers and state regimental summaries for units engaged, including the 7th Ohio Cavalry and the 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry, for officer rosters and service notes.
Tennessee Civil War Trails materials and state heritage summaries for Rogersville and the Holston Valley approaches. TNMap
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