“On Sunday, June 14th, our Division was ordered to move at very short notice. At about midnight the Second Division, the last of the Army, moved from Falmouth, obstructing the roads behind the column. At noon, June 15th, the command reached Stafford Court House, where it halted two hours; then resuming the march bivouacked at night five miles from Dumfries. The day was very hot, the roads were filled with dust, and the march of 28 miles was so oppressive that a number of the men fell from sunstroke and exhaustion.
“At about two A. M., on the 16th, the Brigade started from Dumfries, where we halted a few hours. After taking up the march through Wolf Run Shoals, Occoquan Creek, we camped for the night on a fine farm belonging to an old bachelor named Steele, who was very anxious that we should raise money to pay for the damage to his crops. He did not succeed, his uninvited guests being ragged and penniless. On the 17th we reached Sangster’s Station, Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Here the Corps formed in line of battle, facing towards Bull Run.
“After maneuvering and countermarching the command started on the 20th through Bull Run and Gainesville to Thoroughfare Gap, where we arrived at midnight. The last part of the march was very severe, and in the darkness men frequently stumbled over rocks, and into ditches.
“The Second Corps remained at this place guarding the pass until the morning of June 25th. Two miles below this point there was a less frequented road, but one easy of access, which was effectually blocked up for some time to come by a detachment from the Brigade, who were furnished with axes, with which trees were felled in large numbers and thrown across the road.
“After leaving Thoroughfare Gap the Division was assailed by a battery while marching through Hay Market. Before this was silenced a few of the command were killed and wounded. Passing through Cub Run the column crossed the Potomac at Edward’s Ferry at eleven o’clock on the night of June 26th.
“The next day the march was continued beyond Barnestown, Maryland; and on the 28th our Corps arrived two miles from Frederick, where the Brigade was ordered to establish a picket covering the right of the Corps near the Monocacy.
“On the day of our arrival at this point General Hooker, at his own request, was relieved from command, and Major-General George G. Meade, commanding the Fifth Corps, was designated as Commander-in-Chief in his stead. There were other changes made of subordinate commanders at the same time. Among these was the assignment of Brigadier-General Alexander S. Webb to command the Second Brigade as successor to Brigadier-General Owen.
“General Webb, although an officer of note in the regular service, was unknown to the majority of the command, but his force of character and personal gallantry soon won the regard of the Brigade to as great an extent as that obtained by any of his predecessors.
“The advance of the Second Corps was begun early on the morning of June 29th, and, with but few halts, it was continued throughout the day. After tramping through the stifling dust under a burning sun, in heavy marching order, a distance of more than 31 miles, Uniontown was reached, where the troops remained during the 30th. On July 1st the advance was again resumed until a point four miles from Gettysburg was reached, where a halt was made.”
Thus it was the Philadelphia Brigade reached Gettysburg, after marching about 170 miles from Falmouth to Gettysburg, in mid-summer, under a blazing sun, with dust ankle-deep, as the rear guard of the Army of the Potomac, obstructing roads while on the march, silencing batteries of the enemy, performing picket duty, and doing the rear-guard work for a great army, and when on the march making from 20 to 30 miles a day—on June 29th marching more than 31 miles—and on July 1st marching from Uniontown, 20 miles distant, to within four miles of Gettysburg. On the morning of July 2d, at early dawn, marched a distance of four miles, placed in position at Cemetery Ridge, and taking part in the second day’s battle, as herewith further described by Colonel Banes: