opted the position for
his fighting line, sent his staff officers with orders for the rest
of the troops to form on that line, and thus actually completed
the arrangements begun by Wright. It sufficed that Emerson, Wheaton,
and Emory should face about, as they were already about to do, and
should form on the prolongation of Getty's line. This they did
promptly and in perfect order. Wright resumed the command of the
Sixth Corps and Getty of his own division. Then feeling his left
quite strong enough under Merritt's care, Sheridan sent Custer,
for whom he had other designs, back to the right flank.

It was past noon before all this was accomplished. Then Sheridan,
content with the position and appearance of his own army, and
perceiving that Early was getting ready to attack him, acted on
the suggestion of Major George Forsyth, his aide-de-camp, and rode
the length of the line of battle in order to show himself to his
men. A tumult of cheers greeted him and followed him as, hat in
hand, he passed in front of regiment after regiment, speaking a
few words of encouragement to each. Sheridan possessed in a degree
unequalled the power of raising in the hearts of his soldiers the
sort of enthusiasm that, transmuting itself into action, causes
men to attempt impossibilities, and to disregard and overcome
obstacles. Almost from the moment of entering the valley he had
gained the confidence of the infantry, to whom he had been a
stranger. By the cavalry he had long been idolized. The feeling
of an army for its general is a thing not to be reasoned with or
explained away; once aroused, it belongs to him as exclusively as
the expression of his face, the manner of his gait, or the form of
his signature, and is not to be transferred to his successor or
delegated even to the ablest of his lieutenants, whatever the skill,
the merit, or the reputation of either. The mere presence of
Sheridan in the ranks of the Army of the Shenandoah that day brought
with it the assurance of victory.

Emory at first formed his corps in two lines, the First division
under Dwight, whom Sheridan had released from arrest, on the right,
and Grover on the left; but soon the whole corps was deployed in
one line in the order from right to left by brigades of McMillan,
Davis, Birge, Molineux, Neafie, Shunk.

When the line of the Old Forge road was abandoned by Wright, Early
moved forward and occupied it. Between one and two o'clock he
advanced Gor