n he intercepted the flight of the army of Northern Virginia at Five
Forks and Sailor's Creek, there would have been in their minds no
nervous apprehension that Longstreet might reenact in the Wilderness the
part played at Chancellorsville by Stonewall Jackson. As it was, Grant's
strategy and Hancock's heroism were paralyzed by these false rumors
about Longstreet's menacing the safety of the Potomac army by moving
against its left and rear. If such a thing was seriously intended, it
was met and thwarted by Custer and Gregg who, alone and unaided as at
Gettysburg, successfully resisted every effort on the part of Stuart's
cavalry to break through the union lines. The noise of the successful
battle which the union cavalry was waging, instead of reassuring the
federal commanders as it should have done, served only to increase the
alarm which extended to General Hancock and to army headquarters, as
well. If a proper rating had been placed upon the services of the
cavalry all apprehension would have been quieted. Barlow and Gibbon
would have moved promptly to the front as directed, and Hill and Ewell
might have been crushed before Longstreet was in position to save them.

General Sheridan's report gives a very meager and inadequate account of
the cavalry fight in the Wilderness. In his book he dismisses it with a
paragraph. Major McClellan, Stuart's adjutant general, in his "Campaigns
of Stuart's Cavalry," makes no mention of it at all, though he devotes
much space to Rosser's victory over Wilson, on the fifth. That is not
strange, perhaps, in the case of the confederate chronicler, who set out
in his book to write eulogiums upon his own hero, and not upon Sheridan
or Custer. He has a keen eye for confederate victories and, if he has
knowledge of any other, does not confess to it. As for Sheridan, his
corps was scattered over a wide area, its duty to guard the left flank
and all the trains, and he was not present in person when Custer put an
abrupt stop to Rosser's impetuous advance. It is now known that he was
so hampered by interference from army headquarters that his plans
miscarried, and the relations between himself and his immediate superior
became so strained that the doughty little warrior declared that he
would never give the cavalry corps another order. By General Grant's
intervention, however, these difficulties were so far reconciled that
Sheridan was soon off on his memorable campaign which resulted in the
bloody