At about 4:00 p.m., the sounds of the attack at Appomattox Station had alerted Walker to the approach of the Union cavalry and he put Martin Gary's dismounted cavalry on his flanks, armed artillerymen out front as skirmishers and about two dozen of his guns arrayed in an arc on a rise facing the station. The area in which the Confederate artillery was located and over which the Union cavalry had to operate was cut through with wagon roads and overgrown with timber and underbrush. It was a poor location for either cavalry or artillery to fight in, especially after dark. In their haste to defend themselves, the Confederate artillerymen fired into their own men, killing or wounding several of them before the artillerymen realized their mistake. After the Union regiments came within striking distance of the Confederate camp, the makeshift Confederate infantry skirmishers fired on them. The Union men nonetheless proceeded with a poorly organized attack of about 400 men against the main Confederate artillery position and were driven back.