Battle of Bean's Station - Prelude

Prelude

On December 4, Longstreet retreated from Knoxville and headed northeast towards Rogersville, Tennessee. Union General John G. Parke pursued the Confederate retreat into Tennessee. That night the Confederates arrived at Blain's Crossroads, eighteen miles to the east of Rogersville. The successful Union commander at Knoxville, General Burnside, had been officially replaced before the Siege of Knoxville, but his replacement, Major-General John G. Foster, had been stuck outside the town during the siege. On December 10 he arrived and took command of the Union forces.

The Confederate army passed through Bean's Station and encamped near Rogersville. After learning that the Federal cavalry at Bean’s Station was farther ahead than the Union infantry, Longstreet attempted on December 14 to encircle the Union forces. He enjoyed superior numbers and counted on surprising the Federals. The southern general ordered his cavalry under the command of William Martin to move behind the enemy position at Bean’s Station to cut off their line of retreat. Longstreet’s encircling movement was tactically sound but did not succeed upon execution later that day.

Longstreet's plan was to move his infantry on the station from his bivouac at Rogersville. W. T. Martin with four cavalry brigades was to go down the south side of the Holston River and cross at or below the station, while "Grumble" Jones with two cavalry brigades was to go down the north side of the Clinch Mountains and cut off the Federal retreat at Bean's Station gap.