On the 23d the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts moved a little to the left, in order to make room for another regiment in the pits to our right. In the evening the rebels made an attack on our pickets in front of the left of the Second Division, Ninth Corps. In falling back our men fired the buildings on the ground abandoned, lest they should become a shelter for the enemy's sharp-shooters. Among the buildings thus destroyed were the arsenal and machine-shops near the depot. The light of the blazing buildings illuminated the whole town.
The next day, November 24th, the Twenty-first Massachusetts and the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, the whole under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hawkes of the Twenty-first, drove back the rebels at this point, and reoccupied our old position.
Early in the morning of the same day, an attack was made by the Second Michigan—one hundred and ninety-seven men—on the advanced parallel, which the enemy had so constructed as to envelop the north-west bastion of Fort Sanders. The works were gallantly carried; but, before the supporting columns could come up, our men were repulsed by fresh troops which the enemy had at hand. Our loss was severe, amounting to sixty-seven, including Major Byington, commanding the Second Michigan, who was left on the field mortally wounded.
That night we had orders that neither officers nor men should sleep. It was a long night of watching. There was a total eclipse of the moon during the night, and we were in shadow from two o'clock until four.
On the 25th of November the enemy, having on the day previous crossed the Holston at a point below us, made another unsuccessful attempt to occupy the heights opposite Knoxville. He succeeded, however, in planting a battery on a knob about one hundred and fifty feet above the river, and twenty-five hundred yards south of Fort Sanders. This position commanded Fort Sanders, so that it now became necessary to defilade the fort.
November 26th was our national Thanksgiving day, and General Burnside issued an order, in which he expressed the hope that the day would be observed by all, as far as military operations would allow. He knew that the rations were short, and that the day would be unlike the joyous festival we were wont to celebrate in our distant New England homes; and so he reminded us of the circumstances of trial under which our fathers first observed the day. He also reminded us of the debt of gratitude which we owed to Him who during the year had not only prospered our arms, but had kindly preserved our lives. Accordingly we ate our corn bread with thanksgiving; and, forgetting our own privations, thought only of the loved ones at home, who, uncertain of our fate, would that day find little cheer at the table and by the fireside.
Allusion has already been made to the bastion-work known as Fort Sanders, which was named for the gallant commander of the cavalry who laid down his life in front of Knoxville at the beginning of the siege. A more particular description of this fort is now needed. The main line, held by our troops, made almost a right angle at the fort, the north-west bastion being the salient of the angle. The ground in front of the fort, from which the wood had been cleared, sloped gradually for a distance of eighty yards, and then abruptly descended to a wide ravine. Under the direction of Lieutenant Benjamin, Second United States Artillery, and Chief of Artillery of the Army of the Ohio, the fort had now been made as strong as the means at his disposal and the rules of military art admitted. Eighty and thirty yards in front of the fort rifle-pits were constructed. These were to be used in case our men were driven in from the outer line. Between these pits and the fort were wire entanglements, running from stump to stump, and also an abatis. Sand-bags and barrels were arranged so as to cover the embrasures. Traverses, also, were built for the protection of the guns, and in passing from one position to another. In the fort were four twenty-pounder Parrotts (Benjamin's battery), four light twelve-pounders (of Buckley's battery), and two three-inch steel rifle-guns.
November 27th all was quiet along the lines, except an occasional shot from the rebel pickets, until evening, when cheers and strains of music enlivened the enemy's camp. We now know that the arrival of two brigades of Buckner's command, reinforcements from Bragg's army, was the occasion of their rejoicing; but at the time we could not solve the mystery. Was it possible that Grant had met with a reverse? we hesitatingly asked. Or had the enemy received reinforcements? While on picket that night our men could distinctly hear the rebels chopping on the knob that they had so recently occupied on the opposite bank of the river. They were clearing away the trees in front of the earthwork which they had constructed the day before. Would they attack at daybreak? So we thought, connecting the fact with the cheers and music of the earlier part of the night; but the morning opened as quietly as any of its predecessors. Late in the afternoon the enemy seemed to be placing his troops in position in our front, and our men stood in the trenches awaiting an attack; yet the day wore away without further demonstrations.