about noon
The long line of horsemen rode on southward , leaving behind them Winchester , the little city that had been beloved of Jackson , and approached the Massanuttons , the bold range that for a while divided the valley into two parts . The valley was twenty miles wide before they came to the Massanuttons , but after the division the western extension for some distance was not more than four miles across , and it was here that they were going . At the narrower part , on Fisher 's Hill , Early had strong fortifications , defended by his finest infantry , and Colonel Winchester did not deem it likely that Sheridan would make a frontal attack upon a position so well defended . It was about noon when the cavalry arrived before the Southern works . Dick , through his glasses , clearly saw the guns and columns of infantry , and also a body of Southern horse , drawn up on one flank of the hill . He fancied that the Invincibles were among them , but at the distance he could not pick them from the rest . The regiment remained stationary , awaiting the orders of Sheridan , and Dick still used his glasses .