And then, as the rebel infantry were approaching, Pleasonton ordered a retreat.
For the future instruction of the reader it may be well to state that every cavalry charge, unless supported by artillery or infantry, is necessarily repulsed by a counter-charge; for when the force of the attack is spent, the men who make it are always more or less scattered, and therefore unable to contend against the impetus of a fresh line of troops, who come against them at full speed and strike in mass.
Stuart's headquarters were twice taken by Gregg's division, and a company desk captured with very important despatches, but the enemy had the most men, and most artillery near the point attacked, and therefore always regained, by a counter-charge, the ground that had been lost.
Stuart claims to have repulsed the last attack of Pleasonton against Fleetwood Hill, and to have taken three guns, besides driving our cavalry back across the river.
Pleasonton claims to have fully accomplished the object of his reconnoissance, to have gained valuable information which enabled Hooker to thwart Lee's plans; and to have so crippled the rebel cavalry that its efficiency was very much impaired for the remainder of the campaign; so that Lee was forced to take the indirect route of the valley, instead of the direct one along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge, behind his cavalry as a screen; his original intention having been to enter Maryland at Poolesville and Monocacy.
GETTYSBURG..