Mid-winter was now upon us, and the weather in this mountain region of East Tennessee was very cold, snow often falling to the depth of several inches.  The thin and scanty clothing of the men afforded little protection, and while in bivouac their only shelter was the ponchos with which they had been provided before leaving Chattanooga; there was not a tent in the command.  Hence great suffering resulted, which I anxiously hoped would be relieved shortly by the arrival of my train with supplies.  In the course of time the wagons reached Knoxville, but my troops derived little comfort from this fact, for the train was stopped by General Foster, who had succeeded Burnside in command of the department, its contents distributed pro rata to the different organizations of the entire army, and I received but a small share.  This was very disappointing, not to say exasperating, but I could not complain of unfairness, for every command in the army was suffering to the same extent as mine, and yet it did seem that a little forethought and exertion on the part of some of the other superior officers, whose transportation was in tolerable condition, might have ameliorated the situation considerably.  I sent the train back at once for more clothing, and on its return, just before reaching Knoxville, the quartermaster in charge, Captain Philip Smith, filled the open spaces in the wagons between the bows and load with fodder and hay, and by this clever stratagem passed it through the town safe and undisturbed as a forage train.  On Smith’s arrival we lost no time in issuing the clothing, and when it had passed into the hands of the individual soldiers the danger of its appropriation for general distribution, like the preceding invoice, was very remote.

General Foster had decided by this time to move his troops to Dandridge for the twofold purpose of threatening the enemy’s left and of getting into a locality where we could again gather subsistence from the French Broad region.  Accordingly we began an advance on the 15th of January, the cavalry having preceded us some time before.  The Twenty-third Corps and Wood’s division of the Fourth Corps crossed the Holstein River by a bridge that had been constructed at Strawberry Plains.  My division being higher up the stream, forded it, the water very deep and bitter cold, being filled with slushy ice.  Marching by way of New Market, I reached Dandridge on the 17th, and here on my arrival met General Sturgis, then commanding our cavalry.  He was on the eve of setting out to, “whip the enemy’s cavalry,” as he said, and wanted me to go along and see him do it.  I declined, however, for being now the senior officer present, Foster, Parke, and Granger having remained at Knoxville and Strawberry Plains, their absence left me in command, and it was necessary that I should make disposition of the infantry when it arrived.  As there were indications of a considerable force of the enemy on the Russellville road I decided