The siege had now continued several days. The Rebels had constructed
works offensive and defensive in our front; but the greater part of
their force seemed to have moved to the right. On the 22d of November,
however, they returned, not having found evidently the weak place in our
lines which they had sought. It was now thought they might attack our
front that night; and orders were given to the men on duty in the outer
works to exercise the utmost vigilance. But the night passed quietly.

With each day our confidence in the strength of our position increased;
and we soon felt able to repel an assault from any quarter. But the
question of supplies was a serious one. When the siege commenced, there
was in the Commissary Department at Knoxville little more than a day's
ration for the whole army. Should the enemy gain possession of the south
bank of the Holston, our only means of subsistence would be cut off.
Thus far his attempts in this direction had failed; and the whole
country, from the French Broad to the Holston, was open to our foraging
parties. In this way a considerable quantity of corn and wheat was soon
collected in Knoxville. Bread, made from a mixture of meal and flour,
was issued to the men, but only in half and quarter rations.
Occasionally a small quantity of fresh pork was also issued. Neither
sugar nor coffee was issued after the first days of the siege.

The enemy, foiled in his attempts to seize the south bank of the
Holston, now commenced the construction of a raft at Boyd's Ferry.
Floating this down the swift current of the stream, he hoped to carry
away our pontoon, and thus cut off our communication with the country
beyond. To thwart this plan, an iron cable, one thousand feet in length,
was stretched across the river above the bridge. This was done under the
direction of Captain Poe. Afterwards, a boom of logs, fastened end to
end by chains, was constructed still farther up the river. The boom was
fifteen hundred feet in length.

On the evening of the 23d the Rebels made an attack on our pickets in
front of the left of the Second Division, Ninth Corps. In falling back,
our men fired the buildings on the ground abandoned, lest they should
become a shelter for the enemy's sharpshooters. Among the buildings thus
destroyed were the arsenal and machine-shops near the depot. The light
of the blazing buildings illuminated the whole town. The next day the
Twenty-first Massachusetts and another picked re