back, he sent Custer's division, mostly dismounted, in pursuit on the left and Devin's mounted division in pursuit on the right. A few artillery pieces and Gregg's brigade from Crook's corps moved forward in support. As noted in the previous section, Sheridan had received wrong information so he thought the V Corps was in the rear and almost on the flank of the Confederates and therefore he mistakenly thought V Corps could launch an early, severe attack on Pickett's force. Without infantry support, Sheridan did not press his divisions to carry the attack by themselves. The slow withdrawal and narrow roads kept the last of the Confederate force from reaching Five Forks until midmorning. When the Confederates reached Five Forks, they began to improve the trenches and fortifications, including establishing a return or refusal of the line running north of the left or eastern side of their trenches. While attention was given to improving the refused left flank, Pickett did not have the earthwork line that had been initially constructed when his men had reached Five Forks much improved when his men returned from Dinwiddie Court House. Not only did the line consist only of slim pine logs with a shallow ditch in front but Pickett's disposition of forces was poor. The cavalry in particular were placed in wooded areas inundated by heavy streams so that they could only move to the front by a narrow road. After Pickett returned to Five Forks, he supposedly received Robert E. Lee's telegram ordering him to hold Five Forks "at all hazards." Historian Edward Longacre notes that this story came from Pickett's widow, La Salle Corbell Pickett, who has become known for her fictitious accounts of episodes of Pickett's career. Longacre states that no copy of the telegram has ever been found. He also writes that Pickett's campaign report only says that Lee ordered him to hold his position "so as to protect the road to Ford's Depot," from Five Forks and that he asked Lee to create a diversion for his men. Longacre does acknowledge that many historians have accepted the story of Lee's command verbatim. Prelude to Five Forks Warren's gains along the White Oak Road on March 31, 1865 and the movement of Warren's divisions which sent Pickett's men back to Five Forks from Dinwiddie Court House and later positioned his corps with Sheridan's force set the stage for the