On the morning of December 13, 1864, after riding for three days in frigid, winter weather, Union Gen. George Stoneman's forces under Gens. Stephen G. Burbridge and Alvan C. Gillem arrived on the western bank of the Holston River. They massed across the river to your right in the fields surrounding the Rotherwood mansion. You are standing where Confederate Col. Richard C. Morgan, commanding 300 men of Gen. Basil W. Duke’s brigade, stood on the eastern bank to defend Kingsport.
