Description: Fortification with two cannon ports and wide trench littered with rocks and debris below. There are tree stumps in right foreground. A uniformed soldier stands on top of fort next to bare flagpole.
Historical Note: According to the fort's designer, Orlando M. Poe, Captain of Engineers, photographer George Barnard took these photographs at Fort Sanders. Barnard, who had worked in the studio of Mathew Brady during the early years of the Civil War, was appointed as official photographer for the United States Army's Military Division of the Mississippi, headquartered in Nashville, in late 1863. Working with the Topographic Branch of the Department of Engineers, he photographed the forts, bridges, and landscapes of East Tennessee during the early months of 1864. Based on drawings of the fort, the solider stands on the western face and the ditch which Orlando Poe had constructed is seen at right. Confederate troops,advancing in the pre-dawn hours, underestimated the depth of the ditch and were not aware that the Union soldiers had poured water over the wall to make it icy. The battle lasted only 20 minutes and resulted in heavy casualties for the Confederacy.
Institution: Library of Congress
Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
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