Editing Battle of Gettysburg (section)

==First day of battle==
{{Main|Battle of Gettysburg, first day}}

===Herr Ridge, McPherson Ridge and Seminary Ridge===
[[File:Gettysburg Battle Map Day1.png|thumb|A map of the [[Battle of Gettysburg, first day|first day]] of the Battle of Gettysburg]]
[[File:Battle of Gettysburg by Peter F Rothermel.jpg|thumb|American [[Zouave]] regiments during the Battle of Gettysburg]]
Anticipating that the Confederates would march on Gettysburg from the west on the morning of July 1, Buford laid out his defenses on three ridges west of the town: ''Herr Ridge'', ''McPherson Ridge'' and ''Seminary Ridge''. These were appropriate terrain for a delaying action by his small cavalry division against superior Confederate infantry forces, meant to buy time awaiting the arrival of Union infantrymen who could occupy the strong defensive positions south of town at [[Cemetery Hill]], [[Cemetery Ridge]], and [[Culp's Hill]]. Buford understood that if the Confederates could gain control of these heights, Meade's army would have difficulty dislodging them.<ref>Sears, pp. 155–158.</ref>

Heth's division advanced with two brigades forward, commanded by brigadier generals [[James J. Archer]] and [[Joseph R. Davis]]. They proceeded easterly in columns along the Chambersburg Pike. {{cvt|3|mi|km|sigfig=1|spell=In}} west of town, about 7:30&nbsp;a.m. on July 1, the two brigades met light resistance from [[vedette (sentry)|vedettes]] of Union cavalry, and deployed into line. According to lore, the Union soldier to fire the first shot of the battle was Lieutenant [[Marcellus Jones]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-gettysburg-who-really-fired-the-first-shot.htm |title=Battle of Gettysburg: Who Really Fired the First Shot – HistoryNet |website=www.historynet.com |date=July 26, 2006 |access-date=April 20, 2012 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125022220/https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-gettysburg-who-really-fired-the-first-shot.htm |url-status=live }} Article by J. David Petruzzi, originally published in ''America's Civil War'' magazine, July 2006, which also includes text concerning a few other more dubious claimants.</ref> Eventually Heth's men encountered dismounted troopers of Colonel [[William Gamble (USA)|William Gamble's]] cavalry brigade. The dismounted troopers resisted stoutly, delaying the Confederate advance with most firing their breech-loading Sharp's [[carbine]]s from behind fences and trees. (A small number of troopers had other carbine models. A small minority of historians have written that some troopers had Spencer repeating carbines or Spencer repeating rifles but most sources disagree.)<ref>Martin, pp. 80–81.</ref><ref group=fn>Historians who address the matter disagree on whether any troopers in Buford's division, and especially in [[William Gamble (general)|William Gamble's]] brigade, had repeating carbines or repeating rifles. It is a minority view and most historians present creditable arguments against it. In support of the minority view, Stephen D. Starr wrote that most of the troopers in flanking companies had Spencer carbines, which had arrived a few days before the battle.''The Union Cavalry in the Civil War: From Fort Sumter to Gettysburg, 1861&ndash;1863''. Volume 1, citing Buckeridge, J. O. ''Lincoln's Choice.'' Harrisburg, Stackpole Books, 1956, p. 55. Shelby Foote in ''Fredericksburg to Meridian, The Civil War: a Narrative'', Volume 2 New York, 1963, {{ISBN|978-0-394-74621-0}}, p. 465, also stated that some Union troopers had Spencer carbines. Richard S. Shue also claimed that a limited distribution of Spencer rifles had been made to some of Buford's troopers in his book ''Morning at Willoughby Run'' Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 1995, {{ISBN|978-0-939631-74-2}} p. 214.<br>
[[Edward Longacre|Edward G. Longacre]] wrote that in Gamble's brigade "a few squadrons of Federal troopers used  [Spencer] repeating rifles" (rather than carbines) but most had single-shot breech-loading carbines. Longacre p. 60. Order of battle at Coddington, p. 585. Coddington, pp. 258-259, wrote that men in the 5th Michigan and at least two companies of the 6th Michigan regiment had Spencer repeating rifles (rather than carbines). [[Harry Hansen (author)|Harry Hansen]] wrote that [[Thomas C. Devin]]'s brigade of one Pennsylvania and three New York regiments "were equipped with new Spencer repeating carbines," without reference to Gamble's men. ''The Civil War: A History''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961. {{OCLC|500488542}}, p. 370.<br>
David G. Martin, in ''Gettysburg July 1'' stated that all of Buford's men had single-shot breech-loading carbines which could be fired 5 to 8 times per minute, and fired from a prone position, as opposed to 2 to 3 rounds per minute with muzzle-loaders, "an advantage but not a spectacular one". p. 82. Cavalry historian [[Eric J. Wittenberg]] in ''The Devil's to Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg: A History and Walking Tour''. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2014, 2015, 2018. {{ISBN|978-1-61121-444-4}}, stated that "while it is possible a handful of Spencer repeating rifles were present at Gettysburg" it is safe to conclude that Buford's troopers did not have them. He cited the fact that "only 64 percent of the companies in Gamble's and Devin's brigades filed their quarterly returns on June 30, 1863" in support of the possibility that some had repeaters but gave reasons for his rejection of that possibility. He dismissed Shelby Foote's statement as "mythology" because the Spencer carbines were not in mass production until September 1863, stated that Longacre credits Spencer repeating rifles to different regiments than the ordnance returns for the Army of the Potomac do, and discounted Shue's statement because he used "an unreliable source". pp. 209-210.<br>
In their books on the battle or on the war as a whole, many historians have not commented directly on whether any Federal troopers had repeating carbines or rifle. Some of them, such as Harry Pfanz, ''First Day'', p. 67 specifically mentioned that the Union cavalry had breech-loading carbines enabling the troopers to fire slightly faster than soldiers with muzzle-loading rifles and made no mention of repeaters. Similar statements to that of Pfanz are found at Keegan, p. 191; Sears, p. 163; Eicher, p. 510; Symonds, p. 71, Hoptak, p. 53, Trudeau, p. 164. Others such as McPherson and Guelzo do not mention the weapons used by Buford's division.</ref> Still, by 10:20&nbsp;am, the Confederates had pushed the Union cavalrymen east to McPherson Ridge, when the vanguard of the [[I Corps (Union Army)|I Corps]] (Major General [[John F. Reynolds]]) finally arrived.<ref>Symonds, p. 71; Coddington, p. 266; Eicher, pp. 510–511.</ref>

North of the pike, Davis gained a temporary success against Brigadier General [[Lysander Cutler]]'s brigade but was repelled with heavy losses in an action around an unfinished railroad bed cut in the ridge. South of the pike, Archer's brigade assaulted through Herbst (also known as McPherson's) Woods. The Union [[Iron Brigade]] under Brigadier General [[Solomon Meredith]] enjoyed initial success against Archer, capturing several hundred men, including Archer himself.<ref>Tucker, pp. 112–117.</ref>

General Reynolds was shot and killed early in the fighting while directing troop and artillery placements just to the east of the woods. Shelby Foote wrote that the Union cause lost a man considered by many to be "the best general in the army".<ref>Foote, p. 468</ref> Major General [[Abner Doubleday]] assumed command. Fighting in the Chambersburg Pike area lasted until about 12:30&nbsp;pm. It resumed around 2:30&nbsp;pm, when Heth's entire division engaged, adding the brigades of Pettigrew and Colonel [[John M. Brockenbrough]].<ref>Tucker, p. 184; Symonds, p. 74; Pfanz, ''First Day'', pp. 269–275.</ref>

As Pettigrew's North Carolina Brigade came on line, they flanked the 19th Indiana and drove the Iron Brigade back. The 26th North Carolina (the largest regiment in the army, with 839 men) lost heavily, leaving the first day's fight with around 212 men. By the end of the three-day battle, they had about 152 men standing, the highest casualty percentage for one battle of any regiment, North or South.<ref>Busey and Martin, pp. 298, 501.</ref> Slowly the Iron Brigade was pushed out of the woods toward Seminary Ridge. Hill added Major General [[William Dorsey Pender]]'s division to the assault, and the I Corps was driven back through the grounds of the [[Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg|Lutheran Seminary]] and Gettysburg streets.<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', pp. 275–293.</ref>

As the fighting to the west proceeded, two divisions of Ewell's Second Corps, marching west toward Cashtown in accordance with Lee's order for the army to concentrate in that vicinity, turned south on the Carlisle and Harrisburg roads toward Gettysburg, while the Union [[XI Corps (Union Army)|XI Corps]] (Major General [[Oliver O. Howard]]) raced north on the Baltimore Pike and Taneytown Road. By early afternoon, the Union line ran in a semicircle west, north, and northeast of Gettysburg.<ref>Clark, p. 53.</ref>

However, the Union did not have enough troops; Cutler, whose brigade was deployed north of the Chambersburg Pike, had his right flank in the air. The leftmost division of the XI Corps was unable to deploy in time to strengthen the line, so Doubleday was forced to throw in reserve brigades to salvage his line.<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', p. 158.</ref>

Around 2:00{{nbsp}}p.m., the Confederate Second Corps divisions of major generals [[Robert E. Rodes]] and Jubal Early assaulted and out-flanked the Union I and XI corps' positions north and northwest of town. The Confederate brigades of Colonel [[Edward A. O'Neal]] and Brigadier General [[Alfred Iverson, Jr.|Alfred Iverson]] suffered severe losses assaulting the I Corps division of Brigadier General [[John C. Robinson]] south of Oak Hill. Early's division profited from a blunder by Brigadier General [[Francis C. Barlow]], when he advanced his XI Corps division to Blocher's Knoll (directly north of town and now known as Barlow's Knoll); this represented a [[Salient (military)|salient]]<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', p. 230.</ref> in the corps line, susceptible to attack from multiple sides, and Early's troops overran Barlow's division, which constituted the right flank of the Union Army's position. Barlow was wounded and captured in the attack.<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', pp. 156–238.</ref>

As Union positions collapsed both north and west of town, Howard ordered a retreat to the high ground south of town at Cemetery Hill, where he had left the division of Brigadier General [[Adolph von Steinwehr]] in reserve.<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', p. 294.</ref> Major General [[Winfield S. Hancock]] assumed command of the battlefield, sent by Meade when he heard that Reynolds had been killed. Hancock, commander of the [[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]] and Meade's most trusted subordinate, was ordered to take command of the field and to determine whether Gettysburg was an appropriate place for a major battle.<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', pp. 337–338; Sears, pp. 223–225.</ref> Hancock told Howard, "I think this the strongest position by nature upon which to fight a battle that I ever saw." When Howard agreed, Hancock concluded the discussion: "Very well, sir, I select this as the battle-field." Hancock's determination had a morale-boosting effect on the retreating Union soldiers, but he played no direct tactical role on the first day.<ref>Martin, pp. 482–488.</ref>

General Lee understood the defensive potential to the Union if they held this high ground. He sent orders to Ewell that Cemetery Hill be taken "if practicable". Ewell, who had previously served under Stonewall Jackson, a general well known for issuing peremptory orders, determined such an assault was not practicable and, thus, did not attempt it; this decision is considered by historians to be a great missed opportunity.<ref>Pfanz, ''First Day'', p. 344; Eicher, p. 517; Sears, p. 228; Trudeau, p. 253. Both Sears and Trudeau record "if possible".</ref>

The first day at Gettysburg, more significant than simply a prelude to the bloody second and third days, ranks as the 23rd biggest battle of the war by number of troops engaged. About one quarter of Meade's army (22,000 men) and one third of Lee's army (27,000) were engaged.<ref>Martin, p. 9, citing Thomas L. Livermore's ''Numbers & Losses in the Civil War in America'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1900).</ref>