In this expedition Wilson was closely followed from the start by Barringer’s brigade of W. H. F. Lee’s cavalry, but the operations were not interfered with materially, his success being signal till he reached the vicinity of Stony Creek depot on his return.  At this point General Hampton, with his own and Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry, got between Wilson and the Army of the Potomac, there being behind them at Ream’s Station, at the same time, two brigades of infantry under General Mahone.  A severe battle ensued, resulting in Wilson’s defeat, with the loss of twelve guns and all his wagons.  In consequence of this discomfiture he was obliged to fall back across the Nottoway River with his own division, and rejoined the army by way of Peter’s bridge on that stream, while Kautz’s division, unable to unite with Wilson after the two commands had become separated in the fight, made a circuit of the enemy’s left, and reached the lines of our army in the night of the 28th.

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.