Following the Battle of Gettysburg, between 8,000 and 10,000 Confederate wounded were gathered for retreat to Virginia. A wagon train of 1,200 wagons, ambulances, buckboards, and carriages, led by Brigadier General John D. Imboden, began departing on July 4, 1863, in the midst of a violent rainstorm. Along the 42-mile route to Light's Ford at Williamsport, the wounded suffered as the rain poured and the train was attacked at Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and Cunningham's Crossroads (Cearfoss). When they arrived in Williamsport on July 5, the bedraggled troops found the Potomac River impassable. Imboden wrote, "We took possession of the town and turned it into one great hospital for the thousands of wounded." One Confederate soldier wrote, "It was an awful place," where dead horses and offal from the great number of beeves killed for the army made it very unpleasant and green flies were everywhere.