Page 8 - Gettysburg weekend book

On June 28, Henry Harrison, a spy working for Longstreet in-
formed Gen. Lee that the Union army was located at Frederick,
MD and was moving north. At this time, Lee’s army was scat-
tered, moving along multiple roads. He sent couriers with in-
structions to consolidate all forces around his current location in
Cashtown or Gettysburg. He also issued orders to his subordi-
nates to not bring on a general engagement until the army could
concentrate its forces.
Late in the day on June 30, elements of Hill’s Corps and Union
Cavalry under General John Buford discovered each other near
Gettysburg. The Confederates, believing they had encountered
local militia, returned to Cashtown with the intention of returning
on July 1 to drive them away. Buford, on the other hand, realized
that he had run into the vanguard of the entire Army of Northern
Virginia. He sent a courier to alert the rest of the Union Army
and believing that the Confederates would return in the morning,
dismounted his troopers and deployed them. Assuming the Re-
bels would advance along the Chambersburg Pike, he spread
several hundred of his troopers along Herr’s Ridge and posi-
tioned the remainder along McPherson Ridge in front of the Lu-
theran Seminary at
Gettysburg.
Buford instructed
the troopers on
Herr’s Ridge to be
alert to the ex-
pected arrival of
the Confederates
in the morning, to
engage the lead
units, hold as long
as possible and
gradually move
back to the defens-
es on McPherson
Ridge.