The Maine bugle ... campaign; 1-5 Jan. 1894-Oct. 1898 - Maine.gov

WITH GENERAL SHERIDAN. 309
after the fighting was over for the day. No disaster resulted
from want of their troops, however, as our men upon the left
proved equal to the emergency which they were compelled to
meet, when the enemy, quickly recovering from the shock of
the unexpected attack in rear, assumed the offensive in that
direction, and, with their largely superior forre, pressed back
the brigades of Gibbes and Gregg toward Dinwiddle Court
House.
It was evident now that we had a difficult matter in hand,
requiring the most careful attention and delicate management
if we proposed to quarter in the Dinwiddle Hotel that evening.
General Sheridan did so propose ;
and
while throwing into the
conflict in front all his energies, roused now to the highest pitch
by the enemy's success, he sent off rapid riders to General
Custer, in rear, who had been laboring all this time with the
wagons and had not reached Dinwiddie, and [ordered him to
bring two of his brigades quickly to the front. Custer never
required more than simple orders on such an occasion, for he
had in himself the vim which insured a prompt response to the
wishes of the commanding general; and so, forsaking the
uncongenial task to which he had been a martyr, he hurried
forward at the head of these brigades, and reported to General
Sheridan at a critical moment when this excellent reinforcement
was sorely needed.
The enemy, in attacking Gibbes and Gregg, had not only
reversed their ranks, but, in order to protect themselves from
troops that we might have on the left of Gregg, Had necessarily
changed the direction of their march, and now the fight gradu-
ally crept along toward Chamberlaine's Bed, on which they
sought to rest their right flank, to secure themselves from
further surprise. This backward movement delayed them
somewhat, of course, and favored us also, in the fact that, by
swinging round in that direction they relieved both Gibbes and
Gregg, who had been hard pushed, and found fresh opponents
in the fine brigade of General Smith, which now disputed
warmly their approach along the bed. It was just as the car-