Following the Battle of Dandridge on January 16–17, Union cavalry moved to the south side of the French Broad River, where they disrupted Confederate foraging parties and captured numerous loaded supply wagons in that area. On January 25, 1864, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, commander of the Department of East Tennessee, instructed his subordinates to curtail Union operations south of the French Broad. On January 26, Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis, having had previous brushes with Confederate cavalry, deployed his troopers to watch the fords in the area. Two Confederate cavalry brigades and artillery advanced from Fair Garden in the afternoon but were checked about four miles from Sevierville. Other Confederates attacked a Union cavalry brigade, though, at Fowler's on Flat Creek, and drove it ab