Blue Springs was a Civil War engagement fought in Tennessee, 1863. It was a Union victory.
Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, undertook an expedition into East Tennessee to clear the roads and passes to Virginia, and, if possible, secure the saltworks beyond Abingdon. In October, Confederate Brig. Gen. John S. Williams, with his cavalry force, set out to disrupt Union communications and logistics. He wished to take Bull's Gap on the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad. On October 3, while advancing on Bull's Gap, he fought with Brig. Gen. Samuel P. Carter's Union Cavalry Division, XXIII Army Corps, at Blue Springs, about nine miles from Bull's Gap, on the railroad. Carter, not knowing how many of the enemy he faced, withdrew. Carter and Williams skirmished for the next few days. On October 10, Carter approached Blue Springs in force. Williams had received some reinforcements. The battle began about 10:00 am with Union cavalry engaging the Confederates until afternoon while another mounted force attempted to place itself in a position to cut off a Rebel retreat. Captain Orlando M. Poe, the Chief Engineer, performed a reconnaissance to identify the best location for making an infantry attack. At 3:30 pm, Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero's 1st Division, IX Army Corps, moved up to attack, which he did at 5:00 pm. Ferrero's men broke into the Confederate line, causing heavy casualties, and advanced almost to the enemy's rear before being checked. After dark, the Confederates withdrew and the Federals took up the pursuit in the morning. Within days, Williams and his men had retired to Virginia. Burnside had launched the East Tennessee Campaign to reduce or extinguish Confederate influence in the area; Blue Springs helped fulfill that mission.
On October 10, 1863, Union and Confederate forces clashed at Blue Springs in Greene County, Tennessee, in an engagement of the American Civil War.
Ambrose E. Burnside, who led the Department of the Ohio as major general, launched a campaign into East Tennessee aimed at opening the routes toward Virginia and, if circumstances allowed, capturing the saltworks past Abingdon. That same October, Confederate brigadier general John S. Williams marched his cavalry into the region hoping to strike at Union supply lines and communications, with an eye toward seizing Bulls Gap along the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad. His push toward that objective led to a clash on October 3 near Blue Springs, roughly nine miles from Bulls Gap along the rail line, where he encountered the Union cavalry division of Brig. Gen. Samuel P. Carter, part of the XXIII Corps. Uncertain of the size of the force opposing him, Carter pulled back.
Over the following days, the two commanders traded skirmishes. Then, on October 10, Carter returned to Blue Springs with a stronger force, while Williams had also gathered additional troops in the meantime. Fighting opened around ten in the morning as Union horsemen pressed the Confederate position through the afternoon hours, even as a separate mounted detachment maneuvered to block any Confederate escape route. Meanwhile, chief engineer Captain Orlando M. Poe scouted the ground to determine the most favorable spot for an infantry assault. By 3:30 that afternoon, Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero brought his 1st Division of the IX Corps forward, launching the attack at five o'clock. His troops tore through the Confederate defenses, inflicting significant losses and pushing nearly to the rear of the enemy line before finally being stopped. Once night fell, Williams's men pulled out, and Union forces resumed the chase the next morning. Within a matter of days, the Confederates had fallen back into Virginia entirely. This outcome at Blue Springs advanced Burnside's broader goal for the East Tennessee campaign, which sought to weaken or eliminate Confederate control over the area.
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