s, was more than ordinarily intelligent, but my
confidence in him was by no means unlimited. I often found what he
reported corroborated by Young's men, but generally, there were
discrepancies in his tales which led me to suspect that he was
employed by the enemy as well as by me. I felt however, that with
good watching, he could do me very little harm and, if my suspicions
were incorrect, he might be very useful, so I held on to him.

"Early in February Lomas was very solicitous for me to employ a man,
who, he said, had been with Mosby, but on account of some quarrel had
abandoned that leader. Thinking that with two of them I might destroy
the railroad bridge east of Lynchburg, I concluded after the Mosby
man had been brought to my headquarters, by Lomas about 12 o'clock
one night, to give him employment at the same time informing Colonel
Young that I suspected their fidelity and that he must test it by
shadowing their every movement. When Lomas's companion entered my
room he was completely disguised but on discarding the various
contrivances by which his identity was concealed he proved to be a
rather slender, dark-complexioned, handsome young man, of easy
address and captivating manners. He gave his name as "Renfrew,"
answered all questions satisfactorily, and went into details about
Mosby and his men which showed an intimacy with them at some time. I
explained the work I had laid out for them, * * * * * They assented
and it was arranged that they should start the following night.
Meantime Young had selected his men to shadow them and, two days
later, they reported my spies as being concealed in Strasburg without
making the slightest effort to continue on their mission. On the 16th
of February, they returned and reported their failure, telling so
many lies as to remove all doubt as to their double-dealing.
Unquestionably, they were spies, but it struck me that through them I
might deceive Early as to the time of opening the spring campaign. I
therefore, retained the men without even a suggestion of my knowledge
of their true character. Young, meantime, kept close watch over all
their doings."

General Sheridan then, after giving a summary of the scattered locations
of the various portions of Early's army continues as follows:

"It was my aim to get well on the road before Early could collect
these scattered forces