Sweetwater Depot - Sweetwater, TN - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

Marker Text:

Settled in the 1820's Sweetwater flourished when the East Tennessee and Georgia railroad was constructed thorugh the town in 1852, Trains stopped and drew water from two large tanks supplied by the nearby creek, and a freight depot stood in the parking area to your right. Becasue of its strategic location, this small twon became an important supply center during the Civil War.

Initially a confederate garrison protected the facilites at Sweetwater. The situation changed during Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's East Tennessee campaign when the 45th Ohio Mounted infantry arrived in September 1863 and occupied the town. Military control of the sweetwater valley seesawed from one side to the other that Autumn because of continous cavalry engagements.

Gen, James Longstreet made the town his headquarters and staging area for the campaign against Knoxville in November 1863. Sweetwater was then the Northernmost station held by the confederate army on the only remaining railroad in the region. Longstreets troops and artillary rode the cars from Chatanooga, joined with the calvary here, and prepared for the attack on Knoxville. When federal troops reinforced Burnside, however, Longstreet withdrew.

Confederate attempts to occupy Sweetwater resulted in several engagements later in the war. In February 1865, local resident Gen. John C. Vaughn reported that "Captain Maston, with seventy-five men from my brigade, captured the garrison at Sweetwater, forty-five miles below Knoxville, sixty mounted men, horses, equipments of Second Ohio Regiment. "The confederate troops burned the depot, but Federal troops controlled the railroad in Sweetwater until the end of the war"


This was an important transportation center during the war thanks to the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad that ran through town beginning in 1852. Military control over the railroad seesawed from one side to the other during September 1863 as armies maneuvered for control of Knoxville and Chattanooga. Confederate Gen. James Longstreet used the town and the railroad as a staging area for his campaign against Knoxville.

Type of site: Other Military Site Address: 305 Main St Sweetwater , TN USA 37874 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Phone Number: Not listed Driving Directions: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   02/19/2023 Don.Morfe visited it 05/10/2014 walkingwildly visited it

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