THE DEFENSE OF KNOXVLLE.



and attacked a short distance to the eastward of the designated point, only
to meet with as decided, though not so bloody, a repulse.
  The assaulting columns were rallied under partial cover some five or six
hundred yards from Fort Sanders and there reorganized, but no further
open attempt to carry our lines was made.
  Many reasons have been assigned for the failure of this assault, and there is
some difference of opinion in regard to the matter. Some of those opposed
to us, of unquestioned ability and fairness, have attributed it to the warn-
ing given us by taking our pieket line the night before, the insufficient use
of their artillery, and the improper direction taken by two of the columns,
                                          resulting in their intermingling
                                          and consequent confusion. The
                                          opinion has been confidently
                                          expressed that a subsequent as-
                                          sault would have been success-
                                          ful. All this assumes, first, that
                                          we were not already vigilant and
                                          waiting for the attack; second,
                                          tillery fire would have greatly
              X gadillerytathieavy anld continlued ar-
                                          damaged and demoralized us;
                                          third, that the confusion arising
                                          from  the convergence of the
                                          advancing columns would not
                                          have occurred again ; fourth,
                                          that the works were " very faulty
                                          in plan and very easy to take by
                                          a properly managed assault ";
                                          and last, but not least, that the
                                          troops of the enemy were better
                                          than ours. The first of these
     RK10"ItGENURAL L. P. ALEXA.NDER, . S. A.  assumptions is erroneous ; the
                                          second greatly exaggerated; the
third might have been verified, but again might not; the fourth is correct
only within the limits and to the extent already explained; and the last has
no evidence to sustain it.
  No one is more ready and willing than the writer to admit the excellence
of the troops that fought us at Knoxville. They had few equals, and I
believe no superiors. But in making this admission I do not abate one par-
ticle of my confidence in the valor and persistency of those who opposed
them. They possessed those qualities in as high degree as General Long-
street's men or any others, and the succession of events had only served to
improve their morale. It may fairly be doubted whether any disaster to our
arms was imminent.
  Again, the repulse may have been due to the existence of fewer faults in the
works than supposed; to the measures adopted by us to remedy the faults



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