On November 18, 1863, Sanders was shot in the side and mortally wounded by a sharpshooter of the forces under the command of Confederate Col. Edward Porter Alexander, his old roommate and classmate at West Point. Sanders was fighting to stop Confederate movement on the Kingston Road about in front of the Knoxville defenses. The sharpshooter is believed to have been in the tower of Bleak House. Sanders was taken to the Lamar House. He died the next day in the bridal suite.