Neither the presence of Hampton’s cavalry at Stony Creek depot, nor the possession of Ream’s Station by the Confederate infantry, seems to have been anticipated by Wilson, for in the report of the expedition he states: 

“Foreseeing the probability of having to return northward, I wrote to General Meade the evening before starting that I anticipated no serious difficulty in executing his orders; but unless General Sheridan was required to keep Hampton’s cavalry engaged, and our infantry to prevent Lee from making detachments, we should probably experience great difficulty in rejoining the army.  In reply to this note, General Humphreys, chief-of-staff, informed me it was intended the Army of the Potomac should cover the Weldon road the next day, the Southside road the day after, and that Hampton having followed Sheridan toward Gordonsville, I need not fear any trouble from him.”

I doubt that General Meade’s letter of instructions and Wilson’s note of the same evening, warrant what General Wilson here says.  It is true that the Weldon railroad near Ream’s Station was not covered by our infantry, as General Humphreys informed him it would be, but Wilson is in error when he intimates that he was assured that I would look after Hampton.  I do not think General Meade’s instructions are susceptible of this interpretation.  I received no orders requiring me to detain Hampton.  On the contrary, when I arrived at the White House my instructions required me to break up the depot there, and then bring the train across the Peninsula as soon as practicable, nor were these instructions ever modified.  I began the duty imposed on me on the morning of the 23d, totally in the dark as to what was expected of Wilson, though it seems, from some correspondence between Generals Grant and Meade, which I never saw till after the war, that Grant thought Wilson could rely on Hampton’s absence from his field of operations throughout the expedition.

“Headquarters army of the Potomac,
“June 21, 1864. 9:20 A. M.

“Brigadier-general Wilson,
“Commanding Third Division Cavalry Corps.

“The major-general commanding directs that you move your command at 2 A. M. to-morrow, the 22d instant, in execution of the duty assigned you of destroying certain railroads.  Despatches received from the White House state that Hampton’s cavalry was before that place yesterday evening, and that General Sheridan had also reached there, hence it is desirable that you should march at the earliest moment.  In passing Petersburg you will endeavor to avoid the observation of the enemy, and then move by the shortest routes to the intersection of the Petersburg and Lynchburg, and the Richmond and Danville railroads, and destroy both these roads to the greatest extent possible, continuing their destruction until driven from it by such attacks of the enemy as you can no longer resist.