at about nine o'clock on the morning of march 23, ashby's cavalry attacked. kimball was not certain if this was another skirmish or the start of a battle. but just in case, he placed his forces in a strong defensive position on pritchard hill. he placed his artillery there as well. on seeing this, jackson concentrated his artillery on sandy ridge, west of prichard hill. at about three-thirty, jackson could see from sandy ridge that what he thought was a small union force was actually much bigger. jackson told one of his officers "we are in for it."