In November 1863, Confederate Gen. James Longstreet led a force from Chattanooga to attack Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s army at Knoxville, but the campaign failed, and in December Longstreet’s men marched east along the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad to winter quarters at Russellville, where they remained until March 1864 amid numerous small engagements with Burnside’s army. Downtown Dandridge became chaotic on January 17, 1864, as a full-scale battle seemed imminent. Union Gen. John G. Parke, commanding 26,000 soldiers and 34 artillery pieces there, defended the town against Confederate Gen. James Longstreet’s 20,000 men and 20 guns advancing from the east. Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s cavalry attempted to build a pontoon bridge across the French Broad River, while Col. Moore’s Ohio infantry had been sent east of town to join Gen. Frank Wolford’s cavalry. Capt. Eli Lilly’s artillery was placed on a Dandridge hill to protect Federal positions. Longstreet’s main force approached cautiously on three converging roads, with Gen. Micah Jenkins’ sharpshooters in the lead but facing increasing resistance. As Gen. John T. Morgan’s and Col. Thomas Harrison’s cavalry covered the flanks, the main force of infantry and artillery under Gen. William T. Martin moved down Chucky Road to within two miles of Dandridge. Late in the day, Parke and his commanders met in the parlor of the Bradford-Hynds House, assumed that Longstreet had been reinforced, and decided against a major battle. With record cold temperatures and signs of impending precipitation, they agreed to withdraw overnight to Strawberry Plains near Knoxville. Discovering the Union retreat the next morning, Longstreet and his general officers gathered in the same house to plan a pursuit, where they found a whisky flask left behind by Gen. Gordon Granger and toasted the Union officer for forgetting it.