Along the front line, the Union soldiers built a breastwork of fence rails about high and the same width at the base. Colonel Charles D. Pennebaker's Union cavalry brigade of two regiments faced Humphreys' and Ruff's brigades farther north. East of Third Creek, Colonel James W. Reilly's infantry brigade formed a battle line. Burnside requested Sanders to hold his advanced position until noon on November 18. That would give time for soldiers and workers to put Knoxville in a state of defense. On November 18, Longstreet's planned to drive Sanders off his hill and probe Burnside's defenses, but a heavy fog delayed Confederate operations until 10:00 am. Confederate skirmishers then attacked Sanders' line but were driven off. Colonel Edward Porter Alexander unlimbered four Confederate guns near Bleak House and took Sanders' troops under fire, causing losses in the 45th Ohio. At 2:00 pm, Kershaw's skirmishers mounted a second attack, approaching within of the Federal line before being driven off. During the fighting, several Confederate snipers took position in an upper story of Bleak House and opened a harassing fire on Sanders' troops. Sanders asked First Lieutenant Samuel Nicoll Benjamin, commander of 2nd U.S. Artillery, Battery E if his 20-pounder Parrott rifles could suppress the sharpshooters. Though the range was extreme at , a projectile from one of Benjamin's guns burst in the room where the snipers were. Poe remarked, "During the whole war, I saw no prettier shot." At 3:00 pm, the final attack commenced when Captain George V. Moody's Louisiana battery, Madison Light Artillery, opened fire from the ridge to the north. It was soon joined by the 12-pounder Napoleons of Captain Osmond B. Taylor's Virginia Battery near Bleak House which blasted gaps in the rail breastwork. The 2nd South Carolina and 3rd South Carolina Infantry Regiments assaulted the Union right and center while the 15th South Carolina supported by the 8th South Carolina attacked the Union left. After a bitter struggle, the Federals retreated. Colonel James D. Nance of the 3rd South Carolina wrote that, "this was the most desperate encounter in which my command was ever engaged." McLaws reported that his division suffered 140 casualties, while Union losses were 200–300. The 112th Illinois reported suffering 94 casualties. The commander of the 15th South Carolina, Major William M. Gist, was killed. Sanders was fatally wounded, possibly by one of the snipers in Bleak House, and died at 11:00