Advance of Lee.
Lee’s Army had been steadily moving northward in the Cumberland Valley. Ewell, in the advance, detached Early’s Division on reaching Chambersburg, directing him to move through Gettysburg on June 26th and thence to York and Wrightsville, there to cross the Susquehanna to Columbia and move up to Harrisburg to meet the divisions of Rodes and Johnson. Rodes reached Carlisle on June 28th, accompanied by Ewell; Johnson was at Greenvillage, between Chambersburg and Carlisle. Hill moved from Chambersburg to Cashtown, and Longstreet was in the rear at Chambersburg. Lee’s headquarters were in Messersmith’s Woods near Chambersburg.
General Reynolds’ position shortly before his death.—Near General Buford’s statue, pointing toward the spectator, is the first gun fired by the Union forces
In his advance into Gettysburg, Early was opposed by the 26th Emergency Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company A, consisting of students of Pennsylvania (now Gettysburg) College, citizens of the town, and some volunteers from Harrisburg. After skirmishing on the Chambersburg Pike about 3 miles from the town, this regiment was obliged to retreat, finally reaching Harrisburg. About 175 were captured, but were afterward paroled. On the same day, George Sandoe, a Union scout, was shot by one of Early’s pickets on the Baltimore Pike. He was the first Union soldier killed in the vicinity of Gettysburg prior to the battle.
On account of the absence of his cavalry under Stuart, who had been left with five brigades to guard the rear and hold the gaps of the Blue Ridge, Lee did not know until June 28th that the Union Army had crossed the Potomac and was threatening his line of communication with the South. Learning this, he ordered a concentration of his forces at Cashtown.