July 1, 1863- Day 1 of the Battle of Gettysburg between the armies of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee & Union Gen. George G. Meade.
Shortly after the Army of Northern Virginia won a major victory over the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville (April 30 – May 6, 1863), General Robert E. Lee decided upon a 2nd invasion of the North. Such a move would upset the Union's plans for the summer campaigning season & reduce pressure on the besieged Confederate garrison at Vicksburg.
On June 29, Lee learned the Army of the Potomac had crossed the Potomac River & ordered a concentration of forces around Cashtown, eight miles west of Gettysburg. On June 30, while part of Gen. A. P. Hill's corps was in Cashtown, one of Hill's brigades (North Carolinians under Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew) ventured toward Gettysburg. In his memoirs, Maj. Gen. Henry Heth, Pettigrew's division commander, claimed that he sent Pettigrew to search for supplies in town—especially shoes. (source)
Shortly after the Army of Northern Virginia won a major victory over the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville (April 30 – May 6, 1863), General Robert E. Lee decided upon a 2nd invasion of the North. Such a move would upset the Union's plans for the summer campaigning season & reduce pressure on the besieged Confederate garrison at Vicksburg.
On June 29, Lee learned the Army of the Potomac had crossed the Potomac River & ordered a concentration of forces around Cashtown, eight miles west of Gettysburg. On June 30, while part of Gen. A. P. Hill's corps was in Cashtown, one of Hill's brigades (North Carolinians under Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew) ventured toward Gettysburg. In his memoirs, Maj. Gen. Henry Heth, Pettigrew's division commander, claimed that he sent Pettigrew to search for supplies in town—especially shoes. (source)
When Pettigrew's troops approached Gettysburg on June 30, they noticed Union cavalry under Major General John Buford arriving south of town, and Pettigrew returned to Cashtown without engaging them. When Pettigrew told Hill and Heth what he had seen, neither general believed that there was a substantial Union force in or near the town, suspecting that it had been only Pennsylvania militia. Despite Lee's order to avoid a general engagement until his entire army was concentrated, Hill decided to mount a significant reconnaissance in force the following morning to determine the size and strength of the enemy force in his front. Around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1, two brigades of Heth's division advanced to Gettysburg.
(pictured: Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew of North Carolina and his frock coat.) (ibid)
(pictured: Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew of North Carolina and his frock coat.) (ibid)
Anticipating that the Confederates would march on Gettysburg from the west on the morning of July 1, Buford laid out his defenses on three ridges west of the town: Herr Ridge, McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge. These were appropriate terrain for a delaying action by his small cavalry division against superior Confederate infantry forces, meant to buy time awaiting the arrival of Union infantrymen who could occupy the strong defensive positions south of town at Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge, and Culp's Hill. Buford understood that if the Confederates could gain control of these heights, Meade's army would have difficulty dislodging them.
Heth's division advanced with two brigades forward, commanded by brigadier generals James J. Archer and Joseph R. Davis. (pictured: Henry “Harry” Heth (1825–1899) General in the Confederate Army most well known for sending some of his men into the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the morning of July 1, 1863, initiating the Battle of Gettysburg.) (ibid)
Heth's division advanced with two brigades forward, commanded by brigadier generals James J. Archer and Joseph R. Davis. (pictured: Henry “Harry” Heth (1825–1899) General in the Confederate Army most well known for sending some of his men into the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the morning of July 1, 1863, initiating the Battle of Gettysburg.) (ibid)
Heth's Confederate contingent proceeded easterly in columns along the Chambersburg Pike. Three miles west of town, about 7:30 a.m. on July 1, the two brigades met light resistance from vedettes of Union cavalry, and deployed into line. According to lore, the Union soldier to fire the first shot of the battle was Lieutenant Marcellus Jones. Eventually Heth's men encountered dismounted troopers of Colonel William Gamble's cavalry brigade. (Gamble, like many Union soldiers, had been recruited from Ireland.) The dismounted troopers resisted stoutly, delaying the Confederate advance with most firing their breech-loading Sharp's carbines from behind fences and trees. Still, by 10:20 am, the Confederates had pushed the Union cavalrymen east to McPherson Ridge, when the vanguard of the I Corps (Major General John F. Reynolds) finally arrived. (Pictured Gamble with Union cohorts.) (ibid)
North of the pike, Confederate Major-General Joseph Robert Davis (pictured in hat - also Commander of the Mississippi National Guard) gained a temporary success against Brigadier General Lysander Cutler's brigade, but was repelled with heavy losses in an action around an unfinished railroad bed. South of the pike, Archer's brigade assaulted through Herbst (aka McPherson's) Woods. The Union Iron Brigade under Brigadier General Solomon Meredith enjoyed initial success against Archer, capturing several hundred men, including Archer himself (3rd image.)
General Reynolds (2nd image) was shot & killed early in the fighting while directing troop & artillery placements just to the east of the woods. Shelby Foote wrote that the Union thus had lost "the best general in their army". (ibid)
General Reynolds (2nd image) was shot & killed early in the fighting while directing troop & artillery placements just to the east of the woods. Shelby Foote wrote that the Union thus had lost "the best general in their army". (ibid)
Union Major General Abner Doubleday assumed command. Fighting in the Chambersburg Pike area lasted until about 12:30 pm. It resumed around 2:30 pm, when Heth's entire division engaged, adding the brigades of Pettigrew & Colonel John M. Brockenbrough. As Pettigrew's North Carolina Brigade came on line, they flanked the 19th Indiana & drove the Iron Brigade back. The 26th North Carolina (largest regiment in the army, with 839 men) lost heavily, leaving the first day's fight with around 212 men. By the end of the three-day battle, they had about 152 men standing, the highest casualty percentage for one battle of any regiment, North or South. Slowly the Iron Brigade was pushed out of the woods toward Seminary Ridge. Hill added Major General William Dorsey Pender's division to the assault, and the I Corps was driven back through the grounds of the Lutheran Seminary and Gettysburg streets. (image: Charge of the Tarheels by Dan Nance
"The 26th NC infantry arrives in force at Gettysburg, July, 1st 1863.") (op cit)
"The 26th NC infantry arrives in force at Gettysburg, July, 1st 1863.") (op cit)
As the fighting to the west proceeded, two divisions of Ewell's Second Corps, marching west toward Cashtown in accordance with Lee's order for the army to concentrate in that vicinity, turned south on the Carlisle and Harrisburg roads toward Gettysburg, while the Union XI Corps (Major General Oliver O. Howard) raced north on the Baltimore Pike and Taneytown Road. By early afternoon, the Union line ran in a semicircle west, north, and northeast of Gettysburg.
However, the Union did not have enough troops; Cutler, whose brigade was deployed north of the Chambersburg Pike, had his right flank in the air. The leftmost division of the XI Corps was unable to deploy in time to strengthen the line, so Doubleday was forced to throw in reserve brigades to salvage his line. (pictured: Confederate General Richard Stoddert Ewell: February 8, 1817 – January 25, 1872) (source)
However, the Union did not have enough troops; Cutler, whose brigade was deployed north of the Chambersburg Pike, had his right flank in the air. The leftmost division of the XI Corps was unable to deploy in time to strengthen the line, so Doubleday was forced to throw in reserve brigades to salvage his line. (pictured: Confederate General Richard Stoddert Ewell: February 8, 1817 – January 25, 1872) (source)
Charge of the Tarheels by Dan Nance
The 26th NC infantry arrives in force at Gettysburg, July, 1st 1863. (source)
The 26th NC infantry arrives in force at Gettysburg, July, 1st 1863. (source)