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[477] I ordered fifty men to be sent one mile and a half on the Oxford road, while a detachment of equal size was sent one mile and a half on the road leading from Gettysburg to York, both detachments being under the command of the gallant Major Webber, who, from time to time, kept me so well informed of the movements of the enemy that I was enabled to make my dispositions with complete success.

At twelve o'clock, an order was transmitted to me from the brigadier general commanding the division, by one of his aides, directing me, upon being relieved by a brigade from the Second Division, to move with my command and form a junction with the First Brigade, on the extreme left. On the arrival of the brigade of the Second Division, commanded by Colonel McIntosh, I prepared to execute the order.

The remaining portions of his account require re-statement for reasons already mentioned.

Upon notifying Custer of the orders to relieve him, McIntosh inquired as to his picket line and the position and force of the enemy. Nothing was said as to any previous firing, and everything was quiet at the time. Custer reported, however, that the enemy were all around, and that an attack might be expected at any moment from the right and rear. The First New Jersey, under Major Beaumont, was at once ordered out, mounted, to relieve Custer's lines, and took position in the woods on the Salem Church road, facing to the northwest. The Third Pennsylvania, under Lieutenant Colonel Jones, and First Maryland, under Lieutenant Colonel Deems, were drawn up in close columns of squadrons in a clover field west of the Lott house, awaiting developments. While in this position, and a few minutes after one o'clock, the tremendous artillery firing which preceded Pickett's attack began. Not being in the line of fire, however, the officers and men of the brigade, while allowing their horses to graze, looked with amazement upon the magnificent spectacle.

As soon as the Michigan Brigade had withdrawn from the field for the purpose of joining Kilpatrick near Round Top, McIntosh, who had looked well over the ground, determined to ascertain what force was in his front without waiting to be attacked. Accordingly, about two o'clock, he ordered Major Beaumont to deploy a strong skirmish line of the First New Jersey, and move it forward, under Major Janeway, towards the wooded crest, about half a mile in front of him, and a short distance beyond Rummel's, expecting there to find the enemy. This movement was a signal for the deployment of a skirmish line from Rummel's barn, where a strong picket force had been concealed, and which at once occupied a line of fences a short distance to the south. The First New Jersey, which had reached a stone and rail fence parallel with that occupied by the enemy, was dismounted and reinforced from the woods, and immediately became hotly engaged. Two squadrons of the Third Pennsylvania, under Captains Treichel and Rogers, were deployed,

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