More than 150 years after Knoxville's pivotal moment of the Civil War, Fort Sanders found itself divided again Saturday.

An afternoon rally "in support of" a monument to Confederate soldiers killed in the Battle of Fort Sanders wrapped up peacefully with no violence and only one arrest, but shouts of rage and fury on both sides as more than 300 police officers stood guard.

More:Rally at Confederate monument in Fort Sanders draws few protesters, thousands of counter-protesters

Counter-protesters - at least 2,800 - outnumbered rally participants - about three-dozen - by at least 70-to-1, Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch estimated.

A street divided

Knoxville Police Department officers shut down 17th Street near the University of Tennessee campus, towed more than 80 cars left parked near the rally site, and barricaded the sidewalks, with rally participants clustered around the monument on one side and counter-protesters on the other. Demonstrators on each side had to pass through security checkpoints, with no guns, flagpoles or other weapons allowed.

KPD officers had help from Oak Ridge and Chattanooga officers, along with Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies, Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers and federal agents.

Rausch and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero wouldn't say exactly how many officers worked the rally, and overtime costs for the police presence weren't available Saturday.

"The plan we had in place was a good plan," Rausch said. "Everything was very peaceful."

Opponents cited ties between the rally's organizer, Tom Pierce, a onetime candidate for the Knox County Commission, and various hate groups. Pierce, a self-employed truck driver from Kimberlin Heights in South Knox County, calls himself a white separatist.

"That's the side that's full of hate," Pierce said, pointing to the jeering counter-protesters. "This (monument) is part of our history. Just because this plague of locusts is going around the country tearing our monuments down, they're calling me a racist and a Nazi. They're probably all Marxists. We may not be fighting with bullets and bayonets anymore, but it's still the same war."

He said more people would have showed up for the rally if they'd been allowed to carry guns "to feel more secure."

The only close-up confrontation came when a group of counter-protesters passed through the checkpoint on the monument's side of the street and started chanting at rally participants. Police quickly herded them out.

The only arrest came when a woman, Kaylie Beckett, showed up at the checkpoint on the counter-protest side with a Mason jar and refused to let go of it, the chief said. She faces a charge of disorderly conduct.

Monument and memory

The monument, dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1914, has stood for 103 years near the site of the earthen fort where Confederate soldiers under Gen. James Longstreet launched a failed assault on Union defenses under Gen. Ambrose Burnside the morning of Nov. 29, 1863. The Confederacy lost 129 soldiers in the first 20 minutes, not counting others wounded and captured, and Longstreet ultimately failed to recapture Knoxville.

More:Why Knoxville doesn't have many Confederate monuments

Competing online petitions to tear down and to keep the memorial began circulating earlier this month in the wake of the violent rally over a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia. Those petitions carry no weight under state law, and the monument could be removed only by a two-thirds majority vote of the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Vandals have struck the monument at least twice recently.

More:Three women cited for vandalizing Fort Sanders Confederate monument

Pierce, who attended the Charlottesville rally, brought a Confederate battle flag Saturday stained by what he said was a paint-bombing there.

Most of the protesters on the monument's side of the street denied any ties to racist groups. Some left early, apparently bored.

"I'm not part of any group here," said Jeff Ownby, a former Knox County commissioner. "This is just about preserving history."

Others said they had other motives.

"Eventually, white Southerners are going to have to fight for their own white Southern folk," said Garon Archer, a self-described white nationalist from Johnson City. "Because if we don't, no one else is going to for us."

Only a few at the rally showed much knowledge of the battle the monument commemorates. Some said they didn't know it stood there until the controversy began.

'This is about racism'

Across the street, counter-protesters waved signs bearing messages of everything from love and peace to "Stamp Out Fascism." Most said they opposed Pierce's views more than the monument.

"I think this many people showing up was less about, 'Oh, this monument needs to come down,' and more about there are people in Knoxville who are directly affected by these racist views,” said Sarah Tanner, a student at the University of Tennessee. “I think it was definitely more about showing support for (those affected by racism) and showing that Knoxville doesn't support those ideas.”

Some counter-protesters brought a defaced Confederate battle flag to stand on.

“These wounds from the Civil War, they have not healed,” said Eduardo Miranontes of Knoxville, who called the monument a sign of slavery. “It’s still relevant. The fact that people still come out and defend this stuff and make up all sorts of excuses for it is disgusting. I feel personally offended by it as a person of color. It bothers me. I’m afraid for my safety.”

Sarah Herron, leader of Indivisible East Tennessee, an anti-Trump organization that stood with counterprotesters, said the event shows progress for racial healing in Knoxville, but the city still has a long way to go.

"I think it's really important to say that this isn't just about this monument, that it's about racism at any rallying point that would draw racists," she said. "We're here with this message that hate has no home here. That's why we're here, to make sure that message is heard. There should be no confusion: This is about racism, not a rock."

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee staff writers Brittany Crocker, Travis Dorman and Don Jacobs contributed to this story.