The greater part of the men evaded the obligation to send their servants back to Richmond by dispatching them to friends who had estates in the Shenandoah Valley, with letters asking them to keep the men for them until the troop happened to come into their neighborhood.
At six o'clock in the morning the troop mounted and rode to Bath, thirty miles away.

It was here that Stuart had his headquarters, whence he sent out his patrols up and down the Potomac, between Harper's Ferry on the east and Cumberland on the west.

Stuart was away when they arrived, but he rode in a few hours afterward.
"Ah, Ashley! I am glad you have arrived," he said as he rode up to the troop, who had hastily mounted as he was seen approaching.

"There is plenty for you to do, I can tell you; and I only wish you had brought a thousand men instead of a hundred.

I am heartily glad to see you all, gentlemen," he said to the troop.