riding south to the Valley Pike. Sheridan noticed that the sounds of battle were increasing in volume quickly, so he inferred that his army was retreating in his direction. He encountered retreating men and wagons less than south of Winchester. Hearing stories from panic stricken men that all was lost, he ordered a line set up to intercept stragglers. Wright had already begun to organize a defensive line between Newtown and Middletown. Sheridan arrived around 10:30am and began to rally the men to complete the line. His presence inspired his soldiers, and one soldier described it as like an "electric shock". Early's halt By 10:00am, Early believed he had a Confederate victory, after capturing 1,300 Union prisoners and 24 artillery pieces, and driving seven infantry divisions off the field. When Early rode into Middletown, he found that the Confederate attack had been stalled by Union artillery and cavalry. Ironically, the main reason two of the Union cavalry divisions were present for the battle was Early's Longstreet ruse from a few days earlier. Instead of exploiting his victory, Early ordered a halt in his offensive to reorganize, a decision for which he later received criticism from subordinates such as Gordon. In a second meeting with Early, Gordon wanted to press the attack against the VI Corps immediately, and later wrote that the "fatal halting...converted the brilliant victory of the morning into disastrous defeat in the evening". Early's main reason for caution was concern over the Union cavalry, which had repeating rifles, on the Confederate flanks. Another problem was that many of the hungry Confederate troops had stopped to plunder the Union camps abandoned in the early morning attack. By 11:30am, the Confederate line was ready to continue the advance, and Early attacked with Gordon's, Kershaw's, and Ramseur's divisions. After an advance of about one–half mile (0.80 km), the Confederate attack stopped at 1:00pm. Early's reasons for the ending the attack were the same issues causing his caution a few hours earlier: Union cavalry, missing troops that were plundering the Union camps, and exhausted and hungry soldiers. Union counterattack When Sheridan arrived at the scene of the battle at 10:30am, he assumed that Early's Longstreet ruse from a few days earlier was true. After interrogating prisoners, he learned that only Kershaw's Division from Longstreet's corps was present. Sheridan also feared that Longstreet was approaching from Front Royal to trap the Union army