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Let us now turn our eyes for a moment eastward, and see what events of importance were occurring in the hilly country of
Central and
Eastern Kentucky and in
East Tennessee, before we proceed to a consideration of the great campaigns against
Richmond and
Atlanta which
Lieutenant-General Grant organized after his appointment to the chief command of the Armies of the
Republic.
On the retirement of
Longstreet from
Knoxville1 and his withdrawal toward
Virginia, he was pursued by cavalry under
Shackleford,
Wolford,
Graham, and
Foster, into
Jefferson County, where, near
Bean's Station, on the
Morristown and
Cumberland Gap road, he turned
sharply upon his pursuers.
A brisk conflict was kept up until night, when the Nationals had been pushed back nearly a mile.
The contest was indecisive, but somewhat sanguinary,
Shackleford, who was in chief command of the pursuers, losing about two hundred men.
Longstreet's loss, it was computed, was much greater.
He sought, during the struggle, to strike
Shackleford in the rear, by sending a force down the left bank of the
Holston, to cross at
Kelly's Ford, and come up from the west.
The vigilant
General Ferrero prevented this movement, by sending
General Humphrey to hold that ford.
Longstreet, being unable to follow up his advantage acquired at
Bean's Station, on account of the snow and cold, a large number of his men being barefooted, now fell back toward
Bull's Gap, at the junction of the
Rogersville branch with the main railway.
General Burnside had now retired from the command of the Army of the Ohio, which was assumed
by
General John G. Foster, his successor in
North Carolina.
The first event of much importance that occurred after
Foster's accession and the affair at
Bean's Station, was a fight,
between
Mossy Creek and
New Market, by the
National advance at
Knoxville, under
General S. D. Sturgis, with an estimated force of nearly six thousand Confederates, under the notorious guerrilla chief,
J. H. Morgan, and
Martin Armstrong.
The Confederates were vanquished, with a loss never reported, but estimated at full three hundred men.
Sturgis's loss was about one hundred.
At the same time,
Wheeler, with about twelve hundred mounted men, had come up from
Georgia, and was boldly operating between
Knoxville and
Chattanooga, his most notable achievement being an attack
upon a National supply-train, near
Charlestown, on the
Hiawassee, which was guarded by only one hundred men, under
Colonel Siebert.
Of course,
Wheeler easily captured the train, but it was not so easy to hold it, for, immediately after the seizure,
Colonel Long came up to
Siebert's assistance, with one hundred and fifty of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry and
Colonel Laibold's Second Missouri Infantry.
These, with
Siebert's men, retook the train, and drove
Wheeler back, with a loss of forty-one killed and wounded and one hundred and twenty-three made prisoners.
The Union loss was only sixteen.
A little later, when
Sturgis was occupying
Dandridge, the capital of
Jefferson County, he was attacked
by the troops of
Morgan and
Armstrong, and after fighting them until night, and breaking their force by a charge led by
Colonel D. M. McCook, fell back
