the help of an infantry corps. Sheridan wanted the VI Corps commanded by Major General Horatio G. Wright, which he had worked with in the Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1864, not the V Corps under Major General Gouverneur Warren whom Sheridan did not trust. Grant replied a few hours later that the VI Corps was in the center of the line and too far away to support Sheridan but he could move the II Corps by the next day. Grant also said that Wright thought he could go through the line from his current position. Although heavy rain continued that day, Confederate Major General George E. Pickett was about to change the situation and options of the Union commanders. At 9:00 a.m., Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) Wesley Merritt reinforced the Union picket line and ordered Brigadier General Thomas Devin to send out strong combat patrols from his camp at J. Boisseau's farm north of Dinwiddie Court House to scout Confederate positions covering White Oak Road Patrols moving up Crump Road and Dinwiddie Court House Road attracted Confederate rifle fire near White Oak Road. Brigadier General Henry E. Davies's brigade of Major General George Crook's division also was at J. Boisseau's farm. Patrols from Davies's brigade were sent to watch the area on the east of a swampy creek called Chamberlain's Bed. Sheridan was mindful of the possibility that his force could come under attack from the west because he had blocked Confederate Major Generals W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee's and Thomas L.Rosser's approach from the south the previous day. Soon after Davies's patrol reached their station, his men spotted both Confederate cavalry and infantry heading toward Dinwiddie Court House on the west side of the creek. Pickett had decided to march south from Five Forks on Scott Road at about 9:00 a.m. for an attack on Sheridan at Dinwiddie Court House despite the bad weather and the hunger of his ill-fed troops. When Sheridan heard about the movement, he assumed the Confederates were moving on Scott Road west of the creek. Davies's brigade was sent to cover the creek's northern crossing at Danse's Ford. Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Charles H. Smith's brigade was set to hold the Ford Station Road crossing at Fitzgerald's Ford, about south of Danse's Ford. Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) J. Irvin Gregg's brigade stood in reserve at the junction of Adams and Brooks roads, midway between the