| From the Atlanta Intelligencer |
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| September 20, 1863 |
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| Correspondence of the Richmond Enquirer |
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Evacuation and Occupation of Upper East Tennessee
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*****
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Jonesboro', Tenn., Sept. 10, 1863
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Before giving an account of the fight of the 9th, I will
give some light as to the state of affairs in upper East Tennessee. It
is well known to you that about the 27th August, Gen. Buckner, with
his entire force, withdrew from Knoxville, leaving the country East,
along the line of the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad to
Bristol to be guarded and defended by Gen. A. E. Jackson's
brigade.
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Notwithstanding the evacuation of Knoxville and the
abandonment of the country, except by the small force above alluded
to, the Directory of the road, (the President, Col. John Branner, then
being at Knoxville, continued to run their trains into Knoxville for
several days, although a large force of the enemy was known to be
within fifteen or twenty miles of the city; and, marvelous to say, it
is the common report of the country that the President and Directors
resolved to run the road, declaring they were only common carriers,
evidently indifferent whether the rolling stock fell into the hands of
the enemy. This they must have known would have been the case. So,
sure enough, on Tuesday, the ---, they dashed into Knoxville and
captured their best passenger train and three locomotives. On the same
day our little force at the Plains was withdrawn by railroad to
Bristol. On the morning of the 4th the enemy pushed up to Mossy Creek,
captured a train, and then run into Jonesboro', one hundred miles
distant from Knoxville, with 400 men and there took another.
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*****
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Talbot
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