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any moment.
I have not yet learned whether the enemy has passed Yellow Tavern or passed near James river.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. E. B. Stuart, Major-General.
With the intuition of a great soldier Stuart threw himself on Sheridan's rear, and thus drew him away from Richmond to give time for troops to get into the city to defend it. In the ensuing fight Griffin, of course, had his battery well out of the fighting line, and it was captured by the enemy.
Stuart instantly charged with a regiment and recaptured the guns.
In a moment they were retaken by the Federals, and Stuart again retook them.
After the charge was over a dismounted Federal cavalryman, trotting back on foot, shot him with a revolver, striking him in the side, which killed him.
So Stuart lost his life in defense of the banner battery of the Marylanders.