g eatable," are
Sheridan's words.

On the 25th of August, after three days spent in skirmishing, Early
left Anderson to mask Halltown, and sent Fitzhugh Lee by Martinsburg
to Williamsport, marching himself to Shepherdstown. A rough fight
with Torbert's cavalry resulted near Kearneysville, in which Custer
narrowly avoided the loss of his brigade by a rapid flight across
the Potomac at Shepherdstown. Sheridan sent two divisions of
cavalry under Averell and Wilson over the Potomac to watch the
fords and to hold the gaps of the South Mountain. Thus when Fitzhugh
Lee got to the Potomac, he found Averell waiting for him, and
Anderson being pressed back by Crook on the 26th, Early fell back
behind the Opequon to Bunker Hill and Stephenson's Depot. On the
28th of August Sheridan advanced to Charlestown, and waiting there
five days while his cavalry was concentrating and feeling the enemy,
he again moved forward to the Clifton-Berryville line on the 3d of
September, and encamped in the usual order.

Two marked features had now become regularly established: as often
as the troops halted, no matter for how short a time, of their own
accord they instantly set about protecting their front with the
spade and the axe; and, secondly, the depots of the army were fixed
behind the strong lines of Halltown with a sufficient force to
guard them, and thence, as needed, supplies were sent forward to
the troops in the field by strongly guarded trains, and these, as
soon as unloaded, were returned to Halltown, thus reducing to a
minimum the impedimenta of the army as well as the detachments
usually demanded for their care. For the Nineteenth Corps, Currie's
brigade of Dwight's division performed this service during the
campaign.

The contingency for which Grant and Sheridan were waiting was now
close at hand. Anderson had been nearly a month away from Lee,
and meanwhile Grant had not only kept Lee on the watch on both
banks of the James, as well as for Richmond as for Petersburg, but
had taken a fast hold on the Weldon railway. Unable to shake off
Grant's clutch either on the James or on the Shenandoah, Lee greatly
needed Anderson back with him. Accordingly, on the very day when
Sheridan went back to Berryville, Anderson, seeking the shortest
way to Richmond, ran into Crook in the act of going into camp, and
darkness shortly put an end to a sharp fight that might otherwise
have proved a pitched battle. This brought Early in haste