Colonel Thoburn, was mortally wounded by Confederate cavalry while trying to rally his troops near Middletown. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, commander of the Union 2nd Division, learned of the attack on Thoburn's division only a few minutes before his own division was attacked by a line of seven brigades from Gordon's column. Evan's (Gordon's) Division was on the Confederate left, and Ramseur's Division was on the right. Hayes had two brigades, and only his First Brigade was in formation to receive Gordon's attackers. His Second Brigade, located on his right (southwest), was still in their tents—and then had Thoburn's retreating men racing through their camp. Soon, Hayes' division was also retreating. Most of Hayes' men retreated toward Belle Grove, while most of Thoburn's men retreated northeast down the pike. During the retreat, Hayes' horse was killed and he was briefly knocked unconscious. Although injured and almost captured, he escaped. Further north, Union Colonel J. Howard Kitching's Provisional Division of raw recruits fled after showing little resistance. On horseback, Kitching was wounded in the foot, but continued trying to rally his men. Kitching's 6th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, coming in from camp near the wagons, supported one of du Pont's batteries. Although the Confederate attacking force from Ramseur's Division suffered minimal casualties, Brigade Commander Cullen A. Battle was seriously wounded. Crook, Hayes, and Kitching regrouped fragments of the two Union divisions near Belle Grove. XIX Corps Unlike Crook's men, the Union XIXCorps was not caught totally unprepared. Its 2nd Division, commanded by Brigadier General Cuvier Grover, was planning to undertake a reconnaissance mission at 5:30am south toward Strasburg. Around 5:15am they could hear musket fire near the Army of West Virginia's position, and Grover positioned his men defensively—with the bulk of his men behind fortifications. The XIXCorps began receiving artillery fire from the south and east, and was attacked from those directions by Confederate troops, commanded by Kershaw and Evans, less than one hour after the start of the battle. XIXCorps Commander Emory received unexpected assistance from Wildes' partial brigade from Crook's Army of West Virginia. In the confusion of battle, Wildes' two regiments had been unable to reunite with Crook and the retreating men from the Army of West Virginia—so they offered assistance to Emory and Wright. When the partial brigade reported, Emory ordered it to attack—which would enable his men to have more time for reorienting the Union