Gap. The Army of the Ohio's strength returns for October 1863 reported the following troops present for duty: 6,352 officers and enlisted men in IX Corps, 7,912 infantry and artillery and 7,458 cavalry in XXIII Corps, and 4,391 troops in the Left Wing. Brigadier General Robert B. Potter commanded IX Corps, Brigadier General Mahlon D. Manson directed XXIII Corps, Brigadier General James M. Shackelford led the cavalry, and Willcox commanded the Left Wing. Major General Robert Ransom Jr. with 5,800 Confederate infantry plus two cavalry brigades under Brigadier General William E. "Grumble" Jones and Colonel H. L. Giltner lurked to the northeast. The Confederate department commander Major General Samuel Jones doubted whether his 8,000 troops were strong enough to seriously disrupt the Union occupation. On October 17, Bragg ordered an infantry division under Major General Carter L. Stevenson and two cavalry brigades under Colonels George Gibbs Dibrell and J. J. Morrison to menace the Union area of control. On October 20, Dibrell and Morrison defeated a Union cavalry brigade under Colonel Frank Wolford in the Battle of Philadelphia. After this reverse, Burnside abandoned Loudon and fell back behind the Tennessee and Little Tennessee Rivers. Subsequently, Burnside massed the 6,000 men from IX Corps and 3,000 soldiers from Brigadier General Julius White's XXIII Corps infantry division in the area near Lenoir's Station. The remaining XXIII Corps infantry division under Brigadier General Milo Smith Hascall defended Knoxville, Brigadier General William P. Sanders' cavalry division observed the area around Maryville, Willcox held Bull's Gap, and two infantry regiments and 300 cavalry garrisoned Cumberland Gap. In addition, two Union cavalry brigades cooperated with Willcox's force. Major General Ulysses S. Grant was anxious whether Burnside could hold Knoxville. Longstreet's advance On November 4, Bragg ordered Longstreet to detach his two divisions from the Army of Tennessee and recapture Knoxville. Bragg believed Longstreet botched the Battle of Wauhatchie on October 28, in which the Confederates proved unable to cut the Federals' newly established Cracker Line. Bragg also wished to send away a general whom he found to be troublesome. Longstreet wanted to be reinforced to 20,000 men for the campaign, but Bragg said no and recalled both Stevenson's and Benjamin F. Cheatham's infantry divisions that opposed Burnside. However, Bragg loaned him Major General Joseph Wheeler and most of his army's mounted force. Longstreet tried to obtain accurate maps of East Tennessee but was only able to