As part of Confederate Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet’s strategy to capture Knoxville and drive the Union IX and XXIII Corps (Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside) from East Tennessee, his First Corps (Army of Northern Virginia) assaulted Fort Loudon (later named Fort Sanders) on November 28-29, 1863. The attack on the morning of November 29 was led by the Divisions of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McClaws and Brig. Gen. Micah Jenkins. The federal garrison commanded by Brig. Gen. William Sanders (who was killed in the engagement) successfully repulsed the attacks due in large measure to effective defensive engineering installed by Captain Orlando Poe. Facing additional Union reinforcements from the South, Longstreet withdrew into winter quarters in the upper East Tennessee valley.
Strawberry Plains
On January 21, 1864 Union scouts with Brig. Gen. James Spears reported that Confederate forces advancing from Blain’s Crossroads had