Event this weekend to commemorate siege of Knoxville

Thursday, November 7, 2013

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The city of Knoxville plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the siege of Knoxville during the Civil War with an event at Fort Dickerson.

According to Visit Knoxville, the free event scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will include battle re-enactments, living history campsites, infantry drilling and firing, a Civil War medical and surgical exhibit, ladies fashions, cannon firings and more.

Fort Dickerson was one of 16 earthen forts and battery positions surrounding Knoxville that were built by the U.S. Army during the Civil War. The siege of Knoxville took place in November and December 1863.

The fort was named for Capt. Jonathan C. Dickerson, 112th Illinois Mounted Infantry, who was killed in action near Cleveland, Tenn.