Description: Antebellum Italian revival house on landscaped grounds, Kingston Pike, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Historical Note: Bleak House, the home of Robert Houston and Louisa Franklin Armstrong, was used as the headquarters for Confederate generals James Longstreet and Lafayette McLaws during the 1863 "Siege of Knoxville." On November 18, 1863, Union General William P. Sanders was shot and killed, reputedly by sharpshooters located in the tower. Charcoal drawings of the faces of three men, apparently sketched by federal soldiers, can be found today on the north wall of the tower's interior. Both Confederate and Union veterans visited Bleak House, now a museum called Confederate Memorial Hall, during Civil War reunions.
Institution: East Tennessee Historical Society
Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the East Tennessee Historical Society.
