But the wild horsemen wheeled and turned, always keeping place with such superb skill that the officers and the infantry looking on burst again and again into thunderous applause.
The display lasted some time.

When it was over and the smoke and dust were settling, General Lee and his staff rode back to their quarters, the young officers filled with pride at the spectacle and more confident than ever that their coming invasion of the North would be the final triumph.
Northern cavalry, on the other side of the river, had heard the heavy firing and they could not understand it.

Could their forces following Lee on the right bank be engaged in battle with him?
They had not heard of any such advance by their own men, yet they plainly heard the sounds of a heavy cannonade, and it was a matter into which they must look.
They had disregarded sharp firing too often before and they were growing wary.

But with that wariness also came a daring which the Union leaders in the east had not usually shown hitherto.

They had a strong cavalry force in three divisions on the other side of the river, and the commanders of the divisions, Buford, Gregg and Duffie, with Pleasanton over all, were forming a bold design.
Events were to move fast for Harry, much faster than he was expecting.
He was sent that night with a note to Stuart, who went into camp with his ten thousand cavalry and thirty guns on a bare eminence called Fleetwood Hill.