Early The Confederate force was the Army of the Valley, which was created in June 1864 and commanded by Lieutenant General Jubal Early. This army was a detachment of the Army of Northern Virginia's Second Corps, and consisted of six divisions plus artillery. Its purpose was to protect the Shenandoah Valley, which was a major source of food for eastern Confederate armies. Another objective was to threaten the Union'a capital of Washington, and cause it to devote resources to protect the capital and northern states—which would relieve some of the pressure on the Army of Northern Virginia near the Confederate capital of Richmond. The division commanded by Kershaw was loaned to Early, but returned to the Richmond-Petersburg area over away. Without Kershaw's Division of about 3,400 men, Early's army had 15,514 men as of September 10, 1864. The National Park Service uses a count of 15,200 for the battle. The army had a large infantry corps and a cavalry corps, and many of the regiments were from Virginia and North Carolina. Breckinridge's Corps was commanded by Major General John C. Breckinridge, who had been vice president of the United States from 1857 to 1861 as part of the administration of President James Buchanan. His corps had four infantry divisions and an artillery unit. Among his brigade commanders was Colonel George S. Patton, whose grandson became a well-known general in World War II. The Cavalry Corps was commanded by Major General Fitzhugh Lee, a future governor of Virginia who was a grandson of Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (of American Revolution fame) and nephew of the Army of Northern Virginia commander Robert E. Lee. The cavalry had two divisions, and each had its own horse artillery. Union cavalry strikes first Wilson's 3rd Cavalry Division advances from east On September 19, 1864, Wilson's Division began moving west at 2:00am from Berryville on the Berryville Pike with McIntosh's Brigade as the vanguard. The 1st Connecticut Cavalry Regiment departed hours earlier and secured Limestone Ridge, which overlooked the Spout Spring ford of Opequon Creek at the Berryville Pike. That point is about from Winchester, and the road west of the crossing runs through a narrow ravine or small canyon (a.k.a. Berryville Canyon) for several miles (over 3.2 km). Two cavalry regiments, the 2nd New York followed by the 5th New York, led the initial advance across Opequon Creek. They pursued the 37th Virginia Cavalry Battalion