Angry Staff Officer

The troopers have had a long night in their outposts, heavy with dew, snatching as much sleep as a saddle and wet blanket will allow. The 8th Illinois Cavalry, nicknamed the Abolition Regiment, is posted on the Chambersburg Pike, which is now in the path of Beth's rebel division

Lt Marcellus Jones borrows the carbine of one of his troopers. He raises it, sights it onto a rebel officer, and fires. He misses. The heavy air echoes with the sound, soon replaced by the morning birdsong of Pennsylvania. But not for long. The crackle of carbines begins to grow

US cavalry BG John Buford has only about 2,700 men around Gettysburg. As the eyes & ears of the Army of the Potomac, he has found the enemy & is determined to hang on to them until the infantry can arrive. As the pops of the carbines are telling him, his long morning is beginning

Gunsmoke wafts up from the lines of videttes along the Chambersburg Pike, Confederate rifles joining in, as Lt. John Calef of Gloucester, Ma, unlimbers his six 3" ordnance rifles of Btty A, 2d US Artillery. Only one year out of West Point, Calef, too, will have a long morning

Confederate skirmishers fan out in long lines, pushing into the dense vegetation below Herr's Ridge, trading potshots with what they're now realizing is US cavalry, not local militia as their commander had thought. Undeterred, Heth continues to advance, bringing up his own guns

The steady thump of artillery resounds across the ridges west of town as the iron and brass tubes warm to their work. Troopers fire a fusillade from their carbines and scamper back, the line of outposts slowly giving way to Heth's Confederates, forcing them to deploy in line

Rippling waves of musketry announce that Heth has his division deployed in line, rippling ranks pushing up against Buford's troopers, who are falling back to McPherson's Ridge. Calef's guns are spitting fire with case and solid shot, each shock wave reverberating in the hot air

Buford's tattered regiments fade off the line as the first infantry regiments of the I Corps arrive at the double quick, dust clouds following, and Hall's 2nd Maine Battery drops trails and opens a rapid fire with case and canister on the approaching rebel infantry

The two US infantry brigades crash into battle along the Chambersburg Pike, the Badgers, Hoosiers, and Wolverines of the Iron Brigade deploying to the left of the pike, their tall black hats distinctive against the ripening corn and wheat fields. The sound of battle swells

Maj Gen John Reynolds, commanding the I Corps, while riding his line and placing the Iron Brigade is struck by a bullet, killing him nearly instantly. Reynolds had refused command of the Army of the Potomac just weeks before this. His men continue the fight as the heat rises

As Archer's Tennesseans splash across Willoughby Run, they're greeted by a sheet of flame and iron from the Iron Brigade, practically at point blank range - most of the brigade is captured, including Archer. MG Abner Doubleday, an old colleague greets him warmly.

"I'm glad to see you," says Doubleday. "I'm not glad to see you by a damned sight!" growls Archer, as he's led off. Fierce fighting erupts around an unfinished railroad cut, hand to hand in places. Rebels swarm up close to Hall's Battery, to be blasted back by double canister

Col Rufus Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin leads a counterattack that blunts the Confederate push into the railroad cut, leaving him holding 7 swords of rebel officers. The musketry begins to fade away, only the pop shots of the pickets can be heard as a lull settles over the fields

If seen from above, the road networks around Gettysburg are like the spokes of a wheel. A high-flying bird might have seen miles of marching men converging on the town. From the north, Ewell's Corps was arriving by brigade, going into line from Oak Hill spreading east

To the west, Heth was joined by Pettigrew and Pender's divisions. Heth's reconnaissance in force was bringing the whole army into action, something Lee had expressly warned against. But in an army drunk on the legacy of victory, orders went by the wayside.

Up from the south comes the tramp-tramp-tramp of the XI Corps, the jingling rattle of Osborne's artillery and its attendant caissons, as the corps goes into line to the right of the I Corps, stretching in a wide arc north of the town. They are too few to hold this ground

The one-armed commander of the XI Corps, MG Oliver Howard, makes the key decision to post one of his divisions on Cemetery Hill, the dominant rise just south of the town. This is the only reserve for the two corps as they adjust their lines and prepare for what will come next

Atop Oak Hill, Confederate MG Rodes is perfectly situated to strike the angle of the I Corps line, where it bends east to link in with the XI Corps. With his three brigades, he can hit the one US brigade at that angle - Baxter's - with fire from three sides. He begins the attack

But Rodes does not coordinate his attacks. He keeps one brigade of Georgians back and orders O'Neal and Iverson's brigades forward. No officer of the division conducts a reconnaissance. In the heavy heat of the early afternoon, O'Neal attacks Baxter's right flank

O'Neal's brigade is raked with musketry and by the particularly galling fire of two batteries of XI Corps artillery on his left flank. One of these is Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, commanded by Hubert Dilger, a German-born and trained artillery officer with deadly aim

Rodes deploys his own batteries to silence the US guns, but Dilger methodically picks apart the rebel guns, dismounting 5 of them. He sighted one particular shot; his spotter informed him that he'd missed. "Oh no" Dilger replied, "I think you'll find that I plugged the muzzle"

Nicknamed "leather britches" for his penchant for wearing leather trousers into combat, Dilger advances a section against more rebel batteries. Cut up in his front and flank, O'Neal is forced to withdraw with heavy losses.

Iverson's North Carolina brigade of about 1,300 men began their attack, without their commander, from the left of Oak Hill, soldiers' boots scuffing into the rich farmland, flags fluttering as if on parade, lines dressed, but no skirmishers ahead to feel out the enemy defenses.

Baxter, a miller from Michigan and militia captain before the war, shifts his brigade behind a stone wall & orders the men to lay down behind it, concealing flags and muskets. The Tarheel troops approach the wall, with their front & flank exposed, the only sound the tramp of feet

At 80 yards, Baxter gives the order, and the stone wall blossoms, first with the blue of the NY, PA, and MA troops as they rise with colors taking the wind, and then flame and smoke, as the entire brigade levels one of the most lethal volleys of the war. The NC line disappears

The 88th NY and 90th PA fire a buck and ball combination from their smoothbore muskets, absolutely murderous at short range. Rifle fire from the other regiments decimates the Tarheels, with over 600 struck down, dead and wounded, helpless under the gale of fire

"Up, boys, and give them steel!" Baxter shouts over the roar and his men charge forward, seizing over 300 prisoners and three battle flags. Iverson's brigade ceases to exist as a fighting force. Just like that, Rodes' division, one of the largest in the ANV, is cut to shreds

It is now 2:30 in the afternoon, and Robert E Lee finally arrives on the field. Seeing that he has two of his corps already in action against what appears to be a much smaller US force, he gives the order for general battle. Hill and Ewell may now attack from the west and north

Attacking from the west Pettigrew's brigade of North Carolinians strikes the Iron Brigade, lapping around their southern flank, striking the 19th Indiana particularly hard. Men load, fire, load, fire in mechanical frenzy in some of the hottest close-in fighting of the war

The attack spreads from south to north, Pender and Heth's division pounding on the I Corps, although Pender is showing a lack of aggression. The tired I Corps is fighting with spirit but running low on ammunition. Baxter's Brigade is out, and replaced by Paul's Brigade