There was now much uncertainty in General Grant’s mind as to the enemy’s whereabouts, and there were received daily the most conflicting statements as to the nature of Lee’s movements.  It became necessary, therefore, to find out by an actual demonstration what Lee was doing, and I was required to reconnoitre in the direction of Mechanicsville.  For this purpose I moved Gregg’s division out toward this town by way of Hawe’s Shop, and when it had gone about three-fourths of a mile beyond the Shop the enemy’s cavalry was discovered dismounted and disposed behind a temporary breastwork of rails and logs.

This was the first occasion on which, since the battle of Yellow Tavern, the Confederate troopers had confronted us in large numbers, their mounted operations, like ours, having been dependent more or less on the conditions that grew out of the movements in which Lee’s infantry had been engaged since the 14th of May.

On that date General Lee had foreshadowed his intention of using his cavalry in connection with the manoeuvres of his infantry by issuing an order himself, now that Stuart was dead, directing that the “three divisions of cavalry serving with the army [Lee’s] will constitute separate commands, and will report directly to and receive orders from the headquarters of the army.”  The order indicates that since Stuart’s death the Confederate cavalry had been re-organized into three divisions, that were commanded respectively by General Wade Hampton, General Fitzhugh Lee, and General W. H. F. Lee, the additional division organization undoubtedly growing out of the fact, that General M. C. Butler’s brigade of about four thousand men had joined recently from South Carolina.

When this force developed in Gregg’s front, he attacked the moment his troops could be dismounted; and the contest became one of exceeding stubborness, for he found confronting him Hampton’s and Fitzhugh Lee’s divisions, supported by what we then supposed to be a brigade of infantry, but which, it has since been ascertained, was Butler’s brigade of mounted troops; part of them armed with long-range rifles.  The contest between the opposing forces was of the severest character and continued till late in the evening.  The varying phases of the fight prompted me to reinforce Gregg as much as possible, so I directed Custer’s brigade to report to him, sending, meanwhile, for the other two brigades of Torbert, but these were not available at the time—­on account of delays which occurred in relieving them from the line at Crump’s Creek—­and did not get up till the fight was over.  As soon as Custer joined him, Gregg vigorously assaulted the Confederate position along his whole front; and notwithstanding the long-range rifles of the South Carolinians, who were engaging in their first severe combat it appears, and fought most desperately, he penetrated their barricades at several points.