Feb. 27, 2008

Knoxville’s Civil War past is topic of Pellissippi State speaker

The Civil War ended nearly 150 years ago, yet new discoveries are still being made every day to fill in the blank pages of history—and that includes right here in East Tennessee.

“The war was a very powerful time period in the history of Knoxville,” said anthropologist Joan Markel, “but our city doesn’t ‘remember’ what happened here.  Except for Virginia, there were more battles and engagements in Tennessee than in any other state.

“Our role in the war has been underreported and virtually unrecognized.”

To encourage Knoxvillians to learn more about their city’s involvement in the nation’s deadliest and most divisive war, Markel will speak on the topic March 19 at Pellissippi State Technical Community College.

The event is at 12:55 p.m. in the Goins Auditorium on the Pellissippi Campus on Hardin Valley Road. 

Markel’s presentation is part of the college’s yearlong Common Academic Experience, which revolves around contemporary writer David Madden’s Civil War novel, “Sharpshooter.”

Markel is curator of a new permanent exhibit, “The Battle of Fort Sanders: November 29, 1863,” which opened last summer at the University of Tennessee’s McClung Museum.

Although the battle between Union and Confederate troops lasted only 20 minutes, Knoxville—a city of 4,000 at the time—was occupied by troops from one side or the other the entire length of the war, from 1861 to 1865.

Likewise, Knoxvillians were about evenly divided between Union and Confederate supporters, Markel says, although researchers haven’t been able to derive any simple formula to sum up why or how loyalties to either side were determined.

Casualties (dead, injured or missing in action) in the Battle of Fort Sanders were anything but evenly split: the South’s toll was 813, the victorious North’s 13.

Markel’s presentation will be accompanied by images by well-known Civil War photographer George Barnard and other visuals to help illustrate the city’s role in the conflict, as well as to provide a guided tour of Knoxville’s existing historic structures and monuments.

The Barnard photographs include a panoramic 360-degree view of the city taken from the top of  “The Hill,” or Fort Byington, as it was known during the war, the site where UT’s Ayres Hall was built in 1919.

In 2011, Markel says, Knoxville will observe the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War. 

“McClung Museum and local and state organizations are collaborating to put the entire story together, including a new book, new signage to mark key battles and trails, podcasts and other projects to attract national recognition of the role of the Western Theater in the Civil War.

“History continues to be important,” she said. “We are who we are today because of events in the past.”

The presentation at Pellissippi State is free and open to the public.

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