four o'clock before
He asked Stuart to hold Sheridan back as long as possible . On the morning of the eleventh of May , at 6:30 , he wrote his dispatch to Lee : `` Fighting against immense odds of Sheridan . My men and horses are tired , hungry and jaded , _ but all right ! _ '' It was four o'clock before Sheridan struck Yellow Tavern . With skill and dash he threw an entire brigade on Stuart 's left , broke his line , rolled it up and captured his two guns . Stuart ordered at once a reserve squadron to charge the advancing Federals . With desperate courage they drove them back in a hand-to-hand combat , saber ringing on saber to the shout and yell of savages .