Battle of Mossy Creek - 1C83 - Jefferson City, TN
Posted by: 
vhasler
N 36° 07.905 W 083° 28.873
17S E 276724 N 4001413
Jefferson City, TN was originally known as Mossy Creek. The battle was a minor Union victory on December 29, 1863 during the American Civil War.
Waymark Code: WM63NJ
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2009
Views: 10
Sign text: Federal calvary under Gen. S.D. Sturgis established a line just east of Mossy Creek. At 9:00AM, Confederate Gen. W.T. Martin assembled 2000 dismounted calvary and eight cannons at Talbott's Railroad Station, three miles east. They advanced along the railroad driving the Federal outposts. After seven hours of severe fighting, Sturgis' Calvary, with seven cannons and reinforcements by an infantry brigade from 23rd Corps repulsed the Confederates. By 4:00PM the fight ended near where it began. It is estimated that the U.S. loss was 109 while the Confederates loss was 400.
From National Park Services website (here), we learn: "Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis received a report on the night of December 28, 1863, that a brigade of enemy cavalry was in the neighborhood of Dandridge that afternoon. Surmising that the Rebel cavalry force was split, Sturgis decided to meet and defeat, and possibly capture, this portion of it. He ordered most of his troopers out toward Dandridge on two roads. After these troops had left, Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, commander of Longstreet’s Confederate cavalry, now reunited, attacked the remainder of Sturgis’s force at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, which included the First Brigade, Second Division, XXIII Army Corps, commanded by Col. Samuel R. Mott, at 9:00 am. First, Sturgis sent messages to his subordinates on the way to Dandridge to return promptly if they found no enemy there. The Confederates advanced, driving the Federals in front of them. Some of the Union troopers who had set out for Dandridge returned. Around 3:00 pm, fortunes changed as the Federals began driving the Confederates. By dark, the Rebels were back to the location from which they had begun the battle. Union pursuit was not mounted that night, but Martin retreated from the area. After the victory at Mossy Creek, the Union held the line about Talbott’s Station for some time."