night. The first infantry did not reach Knoxville until 4:00 am on November 17. Siege Sanders' delaying action Burnside's directed his chief engineer, Captain Orlando Metcalfe Poe to assign each brigade a position in the defense line. As the Union soldiers arrived at Knoxville, Poe gave them their orders. As soon as the soldiers were able, they began building defenses according to Poe's plans. The troops were assisted in the construction by pro-Union volunteers, by drafted Confederate sympathizers who proved to be unenthusiastic, and by Black workers who were "particularly efficient" at the work. Burnside also ordered Sanders to bring his cavalry division to the north bank to oppose Longstreet. Sanders posted four mounted regiments behind Tank Creek (now known as Fourth Creek) to the west of Knoxville. By 9:20 am on November 17, Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw's brigade of McLaws' division began pressing against Sanders' defense line. After a skirmish, Sanders withdrew east and took up a new position around noon. McLaws sent a regiment to outflank this line from the north, but before it could get into position, Sanders' horsemen pulled back again. Sanders fell back to a hilltop position behind a small ravine west of Third Creek and east of a home belonging to Robert H. Armstrong, known as Bleak House. At this point, the Tennessee River was immediately on Sanders' left flank and a branch of Third Creek protected his right flank. McLaws deployed his division with Kershaw's brigade facing Sanders and Brigadier General Goode Bryan's brigade in the second line. To Kershaw's left on a ridge was Brigadier General Benjamin G. Humphreys' brigade with Colonel Solon Z. Ruff's brigade in second line. McLaws did not attempt to advance farther that day; he waited while Jenkins' division arrived and extended Longstreet's line to McLaws' left. By evening on November 17, Jenkins' division was positioned across the road to Clinton while Colonel John R. Hart's Georgia cavalry brigade was farther east, blocking the road leading to Tazewell. Sanders posted about 600 Union soldiers with the 45th Ohio Mounted Infantry on his right, 112th Illinois Mounted Infantry in the center, and 8th Michigan Cavalry on the left. The 8th Michigan's men were armed with the Spencer repeating rifle. Two cedar trees marked the center of the line on the otherwise bare hilltop. The Union troops dismounted and every fifth man held the horses of four other men.