Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford's Union 5th Corps division arrived in support of Crittenden's advance on the afternoon of May 24, 1864. Crawford's men supported Ledlie's ill fated attack by engaging Confederate sharpshooters, but what had been expected to be a victorious advance was now met with a good deal of peril. As night fell, both Union divisions were isolated from the rest of the Union 9th Corps by the flooded North Anna River. The nearest Federal force was the rest of the Union 5th and 6th Corps at Noel's Station, three miles away. Should General A. P. Hill's Confederates counterattack in the morning, the battered Federals faced the real possibility of being driven into the river. Crittenden and Crawford drew back in a semicircular defense, working furiously on digging earthworks for defense. Crawford also dispatched the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves and the 12th Massachusetts to Noel's Station to notify Warren of his dilemma. He then sent another force composed of five companies of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves should the enemy turn back or capture the first column. Luckily, both parties reached 6th Corps lines with news of the potential disaster. In response, Major General Horatio G. Wright dispatched two brigades of his 6th Corps through the night to reach Crawford while all of the Federal infantry at Noel's Station prepared for an attack the following morning.
