On December 29, 1863, Brigadier General Sturgis learned that a brigade of Confederate cavalry had moved to Dandridge and sent most of the cavalry opposite Confederate Lieutenant General Longstreet's encampment to destroy it. He left only Campbell's brigade to hold the camp and valley at Mossy Creek, Tennessee. Campbell positioned his regiments and three cannons of Lilly's battery which had not been sent on the mission to Dandridge in the valley. A large Confederate force moved to attack Campbell's regiments, which fell back because they were outnumbered. Then, Colonel Campbell ordered the 1st Tennessee Cavalry to charge the Confederates on the right of a brick house, a prominent feature on the field. The 1st Tennessee Cavalry made the charge and halted the advance of the entire Confederate line while the 2d Michigan Cavalry, which was fighting dismounted, staggered the Confederate line with rifle fire. Campbell then again ordered his advance regiments to fall back and take a position near Lilly's battery and the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, fighting as they moved back. Despite Colonel Campbell's misgivings, Colonel Brownlow assumed responsibility of ordering a saber charge on the advancing Confederate line of battle. The charge drove the Confederates back and the 1st Tennessee took 26 prisoners. However, they in turn were forced back by the superior number of Confederate attackers. The outnumbered Union force was reinforced at a critical moment and together with the reinforcements, Campbell's men forced the Confederates from the field. The 1st Tennessee Cavalry suffered 9 killed and 9 wounded in the battle. After the Battle of Mossy Creek, the Union forces withdrew to Knoxville. After a brief expedition to fight Native Americans (Indians) and guerrillas from North Carolina in Cocke County, Tennessee, Colonels Brownlow and Palmer with about one thousand men of the 1st Tennessee Cavalry, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry and 10th Ohio Cavalry held the army's right wing, watching for arrival of a Confederate force reportedly approaching East Tennessee from North Carolina. Confederate Brigadier General William T. Martin marched his army across the country from Dandridge and went into camp near Fair Garden, Tennessee. This unexpected movement of Longstreet's cavalry made it necessary to push forward the divisions of McCook and Wolford from Knoxville to support the right wing. Late in the afternoon of January 26, 1864, the Confederates under General Martin were discovered advancing toward Sevierville on the Fair Garden road. McCook's division was ordered to meet this force.