t this was the extent of the pursuit. The
whole brigade (and a very small brigade it was) was deployed as
skirmishers under Colonel Olcott of the One Hundred and Twenty-first
New York. Three lines of skirmishers were formed and each in turn
constituted the first line while the other two passed through and
halted, and so the retreat was continued for about three miles until a
halt was made upon high ground, from which we could plainly see the
Johnnies sauntering around on the very ground where we had slept."

Once more could Early claim the credit of a victory of which at night
he was to find himself again deprived. Sheridan's famous ride, his
meeting and turning of the tide of fugitives, is the feature of the
day's occurrences which will always live in the popular memory. It is
a significant hint of the scale of such a battlefield to know that the
men of the Second Connecticut had no visual perception of his presence
that day, though they heard the cheering occasioned by his appearance
in other parts of the scene, and in his report there is mention of a
meeting with Colonel Mackenzie, whom he tried to persuade to go to the
rear on account of his wounds.

The Confederate belief in their victory was not unreasonable, but it
was now to suffer an astonishing upset. Weary and demoralized with
success, they were entirely unprepared for the vigor of their
opponents, who after repulsing their last assault, quickly reformed
the lines and prepared for a general advance. Sheridan writes: "This
attack was brilliantly made, and as the enemy was protected by rail
breastworks and at some portions of his line by stone fences, his
resistance was very determined."

The history of the Second Connecticut gives a detailed account of its
movement, first against a stone wall in front which after some
opposition was abandoned by the enemy, who then "attempted to rally
behind another fence a little further back, but after a moment or two
gave it up and 'retired.' Not only in front of our regiment, but all
along as far as the eye could reach, both to the right and left, were
they flying over the uneven country in precisely the same kind of
disorder that we had exhibited in the morning. The shouts and screams
of victory mingled with the roar of the firing, and never was heard
'so musical a discord, such sweet thunder.' The sight of so many rebel
heels made it a very easy thing to be brave, and the Union troops
pressed on, utterly regardless of