“I think Lee’s Army and not Richmond is your sure objective point.”
The Appointment of Meade.
Thereupon Hooker started in pursuit of Lee on June 13th, moving east of the Blue Ridge on a line parallel with Lee on the west, with the cavalry guarding his left. He thus protected Baltimore and Washington. He crossed the Potomac at Edward’s Ferry on the 25th and 26th and reached Frederick on the 27th, where he halted. Believing himself handicapped by orders from General Halleck, Chief in Command at Washington, who refused the use of the Union forces at Harper’s Ferry, he asked to be relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac. The request was granted, and, on June 28th, Major-General George G. Meade, in command of the 5th Corps, was appointed his successor, Sykes taking command of General Meade’s Corps.
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.