Wednesday, Dec. 2d, the enemy pushed forward their lines, their pickets very nearly reaching the advanced position occupied by them on the morning of the 19th. They could be seen erecting a new battery on a hill near the Clinton road. We sent a few shells at them, but the necessity of observing the closest economy in regard to our ammunition still continued, obliging us to use it very sparingly.
At daylight, Thursday, Dec. 3d, it became evident to us that the enemy were leaving our front, and rumors of the abandonment of the siege were current in the fort, much to our relief. Probably for the purpose of deceiving us, a rattling picket fire was maintained by the enemy well into the night, which kept us at our posts, much to our disgust.
Friday, Dec. 4th, the news that Gen. Sherman was advancing with an army of forty thousand men, and that his advance had crossed the Tennessee River the day before, made us all very happy, and when, at one o'clock Saturday morning, our pickets reported that the enemy were leaving our front, our joy knew no bounds. At daylight our skirmish line advanced and found that the enemy had departed.
The siege of Knoxville was over.
It is customary to date the commencement of this struggle between the Union and Confederate forces, on the 17th of November, that being the date on which the Union army entered Knoxville and began the erection of the defences.
A careful consideration of the movements occurring a few days just previous to that date, will convince anyone that the siege practically commenced on the 13th, the date upon which Gen. Longstreet reached Loudon, attacked our pickets, and moved down the Tennessee River to Hough's Ferry. From that moment until midnight Dec. 5th, there was no cessation, day or night, from deadly encounters, varying from the picket or skirmish fire, to that of the pitched battle, in which record will show as many men lost in killed, wounded and missing, as in any battle of the war where the numbers engaged were equal.
Commencing also on the 13th, the soldiers of this army were called upon to endure an amount of physical and mental strain such as men have seldom been called upon to pass through. Battery D's experience during this trying time was an average one. The record of its daily participation in the struggle of those three weeks is one of which its officers and men are justly proud. Not only were the members of the battery complimented by the commanding general for the excellence of their service, but individual members were specially complimented and praised in reports by other officers.
The faithful and intelligent serving of the fourth gun, in its two positions at the northwestern bastion of Fort Sanders, was acknowledged to have been of greater service in repelling the enemy from that section than any other piece of artillery; and when Gen. Burnside visited the fort with his staff soon after the flag of truce had been accepted, he personally shook hands with every member of the fourth piece, and thanked them for the gallant manner in which they had done their duty, and directed Capt. Buckley to apply at once to the Governor of Rhode Island for a commission for Sergt. Gray.
The first piece, under Lieut. Rhodes, had done excellent work from Battery Noble; the second and sixth, under Lieut. Parker, had done themselves proud in preventing the enemy from entering our works by the ravines at Second Creek, while the third and fifth, under Lieut. Chase, had as usual, done efficient service in their respective positions. The battery had certainly added much during the siege to its excellent record as a fighting battery.