Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

During this time Wheeler overruns with impunity the entire region of country abandoned by the Federals. On the 23d he is with three brigades before Kingston, but he allows himself to be intimidated by the small garrison, and retires almost without firing a gun. On the previous day one of the detachments that he sometimes sent out as a reconnoitring-party to the confluence of the Holston and the French Broad River availed itself of this excursion above Knoxville to launch a heavy raft intended to break the bridge which alone enabled the besieged place to receive provisions from the eastern counties. Shackelford, being warned of Wheeler's design, hastened on the 23d, in the morning, with some regiments to Boyd's Ferry, above the confluence; but he came too late: the Southrons disappeared and the raft was already drifting toward Knoxville. Luckily, Captain Poe had a long time since taken precautionary measures against such a thing: a chain stretched across the river above the bridge stops the raft and prevents disaster.

However, the besiegers are approaching the place nearer and nearer. On the evening of the same day Jenkins' soldiers carry the principal positions occupied by Hartranft's division above the overflow, on the short railroad to Clinton; the large establishments in the vicinity of the station are destroyed by the Federals in their retreat. A part of these positions is recaptured, it is true, on the following morning, but the Southrons remain masters of the strong locomotive round-house. At the same time, a more serious fight begins on the left of the Union line between the Second Michigan and the Confederates around new and advanced works thrown up by the latter. After losing about a hundred men, the Federals destroy these works, but cannot hold them.

On the morrow Longstreet obtains an important advantage. He has directed Law's and Robertson's brigades of Jenkins' division to cross in boats to the left bank of the Holston, and on the 25th at daybreak these troops endeavor to carry by a surprise the heights on that side in front of the city. Happily for Burnside, a portion of his cavalry had passed two days before to the same bank to reinforce Cameron's brigade, and, replacing the sabre with the pick, has extended the works begun eight days before. In advance of the lines that cover the bridges, and at a