Confederate James Longstreet ordered an assault on the Union position at Fort Sanders outside @visitknoxville, TN #OTD in 163. Longstreet's troops had been besieging Gen. Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Ohio for nearly two weeks at that point. #CivilWar 
Ill-conceived and impulsive, the assault was a disaster for Longstreet's men. They had to cover an open field strung knee high with wire, cross a deep ditch at the base of the fort's wall, and then scale the steep, icy wall to reach the parapet. Hundreds were cut down.
Of the roughly 3,000 men Longstreet threw at the fort, nearly a third became casualties. Inside the fort, less than 500 men of the 79th NY Volunteer Infantry "Highlanders", commanded by Col. David Morrison, held off the assault while losing less than 20 men.
One man in the 79th, First Sergeant Francis Judge, received the #MedalOfHonor for his actions that day, in exposing himself to confederate fire at the top of the parapet to capture the flag of the 51st Georgia Infantry. @MohMuseum
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