After the battle of Fishing Creek in nearby Kentucky in January 1862, the buildings of the university were taken by confederate soldiers for lodging for the wounded. Union troops then occupied Knoxville from September 1863 until June 13, 1865, and the Union troops moved into university buildings close on the heels of the departing confederate troops. The buildings were used for hospital facilities and for lodging soldiers who participated in the battle of Fort Sanders. While occupying the campus, Union troops felled the trees for firewood and inadvertently destroyed the gymnasium with misdirected cannon fire aimed at confederate troops on the bluffs across the river. The steward’s house (dining hall) was also a casualty of the war.
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