Gen. Phil Sheridan's decision to fight at Winchester was based on information he got through a cloak-and-dagger operation carried on by two unlikely participants - a young school mistress named Rebecca Wright and an elderly slave, Thomas Laws.
Seeking clues to enemy troop strength, Federal scouts had come across Laws at his home near Berryville. When Laws said that he had a permit to travel to and fro from Winchester, the scouts enlisted his help. Next, a reliable contact in Winchester had to be found. Wright was suggested by Gen. Crook, who knew her from a previous Federal occupation of the town.
Sheridan wrote on a tissue, wadded in into tinfoil, and told Laws to carry it in his mouth. If he was accosted by Confederates, he was to swallow the foil. Laws found Wright's home and won her trust. As luck would have it, a Confederate officer had recently confided to her that Gen. Kershaw's division had left Early's army for Richmond. Laws carried this vital news back through the lines in the same tinfoil.
"Many times during the next day, and the quiet Sabbath that followed, I wondered what had become of the messanger, and what would result from my note." Wright recalled. Her answer came early Sept. 19, 1864, when she was awakened by the booming of Union Cannon.
"The Civil War, The Shenandoah in Flames", Time - Life books, page 113
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