On the morning of the 19th the four companies of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts, which had been detailed for picket duty on the morning of the 17th, were relieved by the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania. The companies relieved were ordered to College Hill to support Roemer's battery. While on this duty the officers and men were quartered in the buildings of East Tennessee College. Prior to our occupation of East Tennessee these buildings had been used by the rebels as a hospital; but, after a vigorous use of the ordinary means of purification, they afforded us pleasant and comfortable quarters.
The other companies of the Thirty-sixth—C, E, F, H, I, K—took possession of the rifle-pits in front of the Powell house, a short distance to the left of the Kingston road. This was an elegant residence, built of brick, and when the siege commenced fresco-painters were at work ornamenting its parlors and halls. Throwing open its doors, Mr. Powell, a true Union man, invited Colonel Morrison and Major Draper to make it their head-quarters. He also designated a chamber for the sick of our regiment. Early during the siege the south-western and north-western fronts were loopholed by order of General Burnside, and instructions were given to post in the house, in case of an attack, two companies of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts. When the order was announced to Mr. Powell, he said, "All right. Lay this house level with the ground, if it is necessary." A few feet from the south-western front of the house a small earthwork was thrown up by our men, in which was placed a section of Buckley's battery. This work was afterwards known as Battery Noble.
Throughout the siege both officers and men were on picket duty every third day. During this twenty-four hours of duty no one slept. The rest of the time we were on duty in the trenches, where one-third, and sometimes one-fourth, of the men were kept awake. The utmost vigilance was enjoined upon all.
Meanwhile, day by day, and night by night, with unflagging zeal, the troops gave themselves to the labor of strengthening the works. Immediately in front of the rifle-pits a chevaux de frise was constructed. This was formed of pointed stakes, thickly and firmly set in the ground, and inclining outwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The stakes were bound together with wire, so that they could not easily be torn apart by an assaulting party. They were nearly five feet in height. In front of Colonel Haskins' position, on the north side of the town, the chevaux de frise was constructed with the two thousand pikes which were captured at Cumberland Gap early in the fall. A few rods in front of the chevaux de frise was the abatis, formed of thick branches of trees, which likewise were firmly set in the ground. Still further to the front were wire entanglements, stretched a few inches above the ground, and fastened here and there to stakes and stumps. In front of a portion of our lines another obstacle was formed by constructing dams across first and second creeks, so called, and throwing back the water. The whole constituted a series of obstacles which could not be passed, in face of a heavy fire, without great difficulty and fearful loss.
Morrison's brigade held the line of defences from the Holston river—the extreme left of our line—to Fort Sanders. The following was the position of the several regiments of the brigade. The Forty-fifth Pennsylvania was on the left, its left on the river. On its right was the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts. Then came the Eighth Michigan. The Seventy-ninth New York (Highlanders) formed the garrison of Fort Sanders. Between the Eighth Michigan and Fort Sanders was the One Hundredth Pennsylvania (Roundheads).
On the evening of November 20th the Seventeenth Michigan made a sortie and drove the rebels from a house and out-buildings on the Kingston road, a short distance from Fort Sanders. It was a brick house, and afforded a near and safe position for the enemy's sharp-shooters, who of late had become somewhat annoying to the working parties at the fort. The movement was a hazardous one, but was successfully accomplished, with the loss of two men killed. This sortie waked up the rebel batteries, and a few shells were thrown into our lines; but soon all was quiet, and at length the light of the burning buildings went out.
In the afternoon of the 21st the four right companies of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts,—A, B, D, G,—on duty at the East Tennessee College, moved out to the rifle-pits. The siege had now continued several days. The rebels had constructed works, offensive and defensive, in our front; but the greater part of their force seemed to have moved to the right. On the 22d of November, however, they returned, not having found evidently the weak place in our lines which they sought. It was now thought they might attack our front that night, and orders were given to the men on duty in the outer works to exercise the utmost vigilance. But the night—a beautiful moonlight night—passed quietly.[5]
[5] In his official report General Longstreet says: "On the 22d General McLaws seemed to think his line near enough for an assault, and he was ordered to make it at dark on that night. General Jenkins was ordered to be prepared to coöperate. After night General McLaws reported against the assault, saying that his officers would prefer to attack at daylight."
With each day our confidence in the strength of our position increased, and we soon felt able to repel an assault from any quarter. But the question of supplies was a serious one. When the siege commenced there was in the Commissary Department at Knoxville little more than a day's ration for the whole army. Should the enemy gain possession of the south bank of the Holston our only means of subsistence would be cut off. Thus far his attempts in this direction had failed, and the whole country from the French Broad to the Holston, was open to our foraging parties. In this way a considerable quantity of corn and wheat was soon collected in Knoxville. Bread, made from a mixture of meal and flour, was issued to the men, but only in half and quarter rations. Occasionally a small quantity of fresh pork was also issued. Neither sugar nor coffee was issued after the first days of the siege.
The enemy, foiled in his attempts to seize the south bank of the Holston, now commenced the construction of a raft at Boyd's Ferry, above Knoxville. Floating this down the swift current of the stream, he hoped to carry away our pontoon, and thus cut off our communication with the country beyond. To thwart this plan an iron cable, one thousand feet in length, was stretched across the river above the bridge. This was done under the direction of Captain Poe. Afterwards a boom of logs, fastened end to end by chains, was constructed still farther up the river. The boom was fifteen hundred feet in length.