Early in September 1863, when Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside occupied Knoxville, Capt. Samuel H. Lunt, assistant quartermaster, established his headquarters in the house. Like many Knoxville businessmen during the Federal occupation, owner Joseph A. Mabry--an outspoken supporter of the Confederacy--signed an oath of loyalty to the United States. Federal troops built fortifications here on Mabry's property, and his wife, Laura C. Mabry, later drew a sketch of the earthworks that crisscrossed the tract. Mabry's Hill became the eastern anchor of the Union defensive network north of the Holston River.
