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Gettysburg: The Morning of July 1

© Michael J. Swogger

There is no doubt that General Lee was quite surprised - not to mention angry - when he realized a general engagement was to occur at Gettysburg. It is also safe to say that General Meade, though aware of the possibility of a confrontation there, was not banking on it. General John Buford, however, who commanded the Union cavalry brigades on the outskirts of town, knew full well what was about to happen. And his would-be adversary, General Henry Heth, was anxious to push Buford away from Gettysburg. And thus came the cloudy and warm morning of July 1, 1863 that would forever be remembered for the carnage that would ensue over the following three days.

It was 5 a.m. when A.P. Hill ordered Heth's division forward from Cashtown. Heth's division comprised roughly 7,500 men, quite a strong force for reconnaissance and so-called foraging. Nonetheless, it was a formidable force for Buford to face given that he had 2,400 effectives to meet the attack. However, Buford's cavalry was armed with breech-loading carbines, enabling a much more rapid fire relative to their counterparts' muzzle-loaders. This, Buford knew, would help keep things a little more even until Reynolds' I Corps could arrive from Emmitsburg.

The first shots were fired around 5:30 a.m., consisting mainly of skirmishing between the advanced pickets of both sides; the first shot fired by Union Lt. Jones of the 8th Illinois, three miles west of Gettysburg on the Chambersburg Pike (Hassler, 1970). The Confederate presence, if it could not be determined by the sound of gunfire, was reported to Buford immediately. Gamble's pickets were quite effective in slowing Heth's lead brigade under Brigadier General James Archer. And around 8:00 a.m. General Ewell's II Corps advance pickets were encountered by those of Devin. This alerted Buford to a dangerous Confederate presence to both his north and west, a prospect he fully expected.

Once Heth reached Herr Ridge, about a thousand yards west of McPherson's Ridge, he spotted what he could decipher as the main line of Union cavalry. He subsequently ordered the brigades of Archer (on the right) and Brigadier General Joseph Davis (on the left) forward to attack the Yankee position. It was about 8:00 a.m. when a desperate struggle between the two sides ensued along the banks of Willoughby Run. Both Confederate generals and their men were taken by total surprise by the tenacity and rapid fire of the Union troopers. While slowly falling back from the creek to the crest of McPherson's Ridge, the cavalrymen kept up a strong, incessant fire, keeping both Archer and Davis in check for nearly two hours despite being heavily outnumbered. In response to the rapid fire weapons the first Confederate prisoners respectfully shouted, "What you all do - load on Sundays and fire all week?" (Hassler, 1970, p. 32).

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