The September 7–9, 1863 fall of the Cumberland Gap was a victory for Union forces under the command of

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

during his campaign for Knoxville. The bloodless engagement cost the Confederates 2,300 men captured and control of the

Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. It is famous in American colonial history for its rol ...

Background

Major General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department and Army of the Ohio, began to advance against

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

. Burnside left

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in mid-August 1863. The direct route ran through the Confederate-held Cumberland Gap. Burnside had been delayed in earlier attempts to move out against Knoxville and thus chose not to spend the time to force a passage of the gap. Instead he detached one brigade under Colonel John F. DeCourcy to pose a threat to Brigadier General

John W. Frazer John Wesley Frazer (January 6, 1827 – March 16, 1906) was an American soldier, planter, and businessman. He was a career officer in the United States Army, and then served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Frazer's mo ...

's 2,300 man garrison, while the rest of the army bypassed to the south over 40 miles in rugged mountainous terrain.Korn p.101 DeCourcy had previously led a brigade in the 1862 operations against the Cumberland Gap under

George W. Morgan George Washington Morgan (September 20, 1820 – July 26, 1893) was an American soldier, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He fought in the Texas Revolution and the Mexican–American War, and was a general in the Union Army during the Ameri ...

. Despite this, Burnside made a rapid advance on Knoxville. Many of the Confederates in eastern Tennessee had been withdrawn for the upcoming

Battle of Chickamauga The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 19–20, 1863, between United States, U.S. and Confederate States of America, Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a Union Army, Union offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign ...

, leaving only two brigades under General Sam Jones (including Frazer's). Having successfully occupied Knoxville on September 2, Burnside could now return his attention to the Cumberland Gap.

Battle

Frazer and his 2,300-man garrison had little combat experience, yet they had the benefit of a strong natural defense. Frazer's men supplemented this by digging their own trenches. General Simon B. Buckner had given Frazer orders to hold the gap at all cost, yet when Buckner and all his troops were redeployed, no contingency had been formulated for retreat and therefore Frazer continued following his orders from Buckner to hold the gap. DeCourcy's brigade threatened the Confederates from the north, but his brigade alone was not enough to force Frazer out of the gap. Burnside dispatched a second brigade under Brigadier General

James M. Shackelford James Murrell Shackelford (July 7, 1827 – September 7, 1907) was a lawyer, judge, and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He has the distinction of having captured Confederate cavalry commander John Hunt Morgan in mid-186 ...

. Shackelford approached from the south and, on September 7, asked for Frazer's surrender. There were still not enough Union troops to convince Frazer to surrender. An ineffectual exchange of artillery followed but that evening Union soldiers captured Gap Springs, the Confederate water supply.William W. Luckett
Cumberland Gap National Historic Park
''Tennessee Historical Quarterly'', Vol. XXIII, No. 4, December 1964. On September 8 Burnside personally left Knoxville with a brigade under Colonel Samuel A. Gilbert and marched 60 miles in just over a day. Meanwhile, both DeCourcy and Shackelford sent messages demanding surrender. Attempting to buy time, Frazer met with the two Union commanders separately, but rejected surrender demands from both. Around 10:00 a.m. on September 9, Burnside sent a message to Frazer stating he now had a large enough force to carry the gap by storm. The large Union force, little combat experience and low morale (after news of

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

and Gettysburg) all factored into Frazer's decision to surrender. Around 3:00 p.m. Frazer agreed to an

unconditional surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most ofte ...

of all the Confederates guarding the Cumberland Gap.Burnside's Official Report
/ref> Between 100-300 men managed to escape through DeCourcy's lines after the surrender had taken place, but the rest of the soldiers, arms, 14 pieces of artillery and the strategic location were now in Union control. This was the last major operation against the Cumberland Gap and it would remain in Union hands for the rest of the war.

Opposing forces

Union

Department of the Ohio The Department of the Ohio was an administrative military district created by the United States War Department early in the American Civil War to administer the troops in the Northern states near the Ohio River. 1st Department 1861–1862 Genera ...

- Maj. Gen.

Ambrose E. Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

*Independent Brigade,

IX Corps 9 Corps, 9th Corps, Ninth Corps, or IX Corps may refer to: France * 9th Army Corps (France) * IX Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * IX Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial Germ ...

- Colonel John F. DeCourcy ** 8th Tennessee Cavalry ** 9th Tennessee Cavalry ** 11th Tennessee Cavalry ** 86th Ohio Infantry ** 129th Ohio Infantry ** 22nd Ohio Battery *3rd Brigade, 4th Division, XXIII Corps - Brig. Gen.

2nd Ohio Cavalry The 2nd Ohio Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 2nd Ohio Cavalry Regiment was organized in Cleveland, Ohio and at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio, from August to O ...

7th Ohio Cavalry The 7th Ohio Cavalry Regiment was a regiment of Union cavalry raised in southern Ohio for service during the American Civil War. Nicknamed the "River Regiment" as its men came from nine counties along the Ohio River, it served in the Western The ...

** 9th Michigan Cavalry ** 2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry ** 1st Tennessee Battery **11th Michigan Battery *1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps - Colonel Samuel A. Gilbert ** 44th Ohio Infantry ** 100th Ohio Infantry **

104th Ohio Infantry The 104th Ohio Infantry Regiment, sometimes 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It played a conspicuous role at the Battle of Franklin during the 1864 Franklin-Nashville Campaign ...

Confederate

*5th Brigade,

Army of Tennessee The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating i ...

- Brig. Gen.

**55th Georgia Infantry Regiment - Major Daniel S. Printup **62nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment - Major Bryan G. McDowell **64th North Carolina Infantry Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel William N. Garrett ** 64th Virginia Infantry Regiment - Colonel

Campbell Slemp Campbell Slemp (December 2, 1839 – October 13, 1907) was a farmer and Confederate officer in southwest Virginia who became a Readjuster Democrat after Congressional Reconstruction and served in the Virginia House of Delegates. He eventually j ...

**1st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment - Colonel James E. Carter

Notes

References

*Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J., ''Civil War High Commands'', Stanford University Press, 2001, . * Korn, Jerry, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. ''The Fight for Chattanooga: Chickamauga to Missionary Ridge''. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1985. .
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
{{authority control Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 Cumberland Gap 1863 History of Knoxville, Tennessee 1863 in Kentucky 1863 in Tennessee 1863 in Virginia the Cumberland Gap 1863 September 1863 events American Civil War orders of battle