Longstreet, although he did not have the genius of Stonewall Jackson, was a fierce and dangerous fighter.

All of them knew how he had come upon the field of Chickamauga with his veterans from Virginia, and had turned the tide of battle.

His presence in the valley might quickly turn all of Sheridan's great triumphs into withered laurels.
But Sheridan had a great doubt in his mind.

The Confederate signal from Three Top Mountain that his own officers had read might not be real.
It might have been intended to deceive, Early's signalmen learning that the Union signalmen had deciphered their code, or it might be some sort of a grim joke.

He did not believe that the Army of Northern Virginia could spare Longstreet and a large force, as it would be weakened so greatly that it could no longer stand before Grant, even with the aid of the trenches.
His belief that this dispatch, upon which so much turned, as they were to learn afterward, was false, became a conviction and most of his officers agreed with him.