Grant reacted to Early's raids at Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry by dispatching two brigades, about 5,000 men, from the 3rd Division of the VI Corps, under Brig. Gen. James B. Ricketts, from City Point, Virginia, to Harpers Ferry on July 5, 1864. Until Union troops arrived to defend Washington, the only Federal force between Early and the Union capital was a 2,300-man force (mostly Hundred Days Men) under the command of Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace. At the time, Wallace, who would become better known as the author of "Ben-Hur", was in command of the Union's Middle Department and VIII Corps, based in Baltimore. Few of Wallace's men had ever seen battle, and although Wallace had experience as a battlefield commander, having been the Union Army's youngest major general at the time of his promotion, his military career faltered after he was blamed for the high casualties taken on the first day at the Battle of Shiloh.