four o'clock
Jefferson Davis breathed a sigh of relief for deliverance . Within two hours he knew that this victory had not been won by superior generalship of his commanding officers . They had been outwitted at every turn and overwhelmed by the plan of battle their wily foe had forced upon them . It had not been won by the superior courage of his men in the battle which raged from sunrise until four o'clock . The broken and disorganized lines of the South and the panic-stricken mob he had met on the way were eloquent witnesses of Northern valor . His army had been saved from annihilation by the quick wit and daring courage of a single Brigadier General who had moved his five regiments on his own initiative in the nick of time and saved the Confederates from utter rout . Victory had been snatched at last from the jaws of defeat by an accident .