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[[File:Federal cavalry Sudley Springs.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. cavalry at [[Sudley Springs, Virginia|Sudley Spring Ford]]]]
[[File:A Rebel Captain Forcing Negroes to Load Cannon Under the Fire of Beedan's Sharp-shooters (May 1862), by Harper's Weekly.png|thumb|right|An 1862 illustration of a Confederate officer forcing slaves at gunpoint to
All that stood in the path of the 20,000 Union soldiers converging on the Confederate left flank were Col. [[Nathan George Evans|Nathan "Shanks" Evans]] and his reduced brigade of 1,100 men.<ref name=Rafuse312>Rafuse, "First Battle of Bull Run", p. 312.</ref> Evans had moved some of his men to intercept the direct threat from Tyler at the bridge, but he began to suspect that the weak attacks from the Union brigade of Brig. Gen. [[Robert C. Schenck]] were merely feints. He was informed of the main Union flanking movement through Sudley Springs by Captain [[Edward Porter Alexander]], Beauregard's signal officer, observing from {{convert|8|mi|km}} southwest on Signal Hill. In the first use of [[Wig-Wag Signaling|wig-wag semaphore signaling]] in combat, Alexander sent the message "Look out for your left, your position is turned."<ref>Brown, pp. 43–45; Alexander, pp. 50–51. Alexander recalls that the signal was "You are flanked."</ref> Evans hastily led 900 of his men from their position fronting the Stone Bridge to a new location on the slopes of Matthews Hill, a low rise to the northwest of his previous position.<ref name=Rafuse312 />
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