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position here was good, but liable to be turned by way of
Emmitsburg.
Slocum having arrived at 7, and ranking
Hancock, the latter turned over the command, as he had been instructed to do, and rode back to
Meade, whom he reached at 9 P. M.; when he was told by
Meade that he had decided to fight at
Gettysburg, and had given orders accordingly.
1 Both started for
Gettysburg immediately, arriving at 11 P. M.
During that night, our army was all concentrated before
Gettysburg, save
Gen. Sedgwick's (6th) corps, which was at
Manchester, 30 miles distant, when, at 7 P. M., it received orders to move at once on Taney-town; which were so changed, after it had marched 7 or 8 miles, as to require its immediate presence at
Gettysburg, where it arrived, weary enough, at 2 P. M. next day.
2
Meantime,
Lee also had been bringing up his several corps and divisions, posting them along the ridges north and west of
Gettysburg and its rivulet, facing ours at distances of one to two miles.
Longstreet's corps held his right, which was stretched considerably across the
Emmitsburg road; the divisions of
Hood,
McLaws, and
Pickett posted from right to left.
Hill's corps, including the divisions of
Anderson,
Pender, and
Heth, held the center; while
Ewell's, composed of
Rhodes's,
Early's, and
Johnson's divisions, formed the
Rebel left, which bent well around the east side of our position, making the enemy's front considerably longer than ours.
Of the entire Rebel army that had crossed the
Potomac, scarcely a regiment was wanting when
Pickett's division, forming the rear-guard, came up on the morning of the 2d.
On our side,
Sickles's (3d) corps held the left, opposite
Longstreet, supported by the 5th (
Sykes's); with
Hancock's (2d) in our center, touching its right; while what was left of
Howard's (11th), reenforced by 2,000 Vermonters, under
Stannard, and
Reynolds's (1st, now
Doubleday's) corps held the face of
Cemetery hill, looking toward
Gettysburg and
Early's division, but menaced also by
Johnson's division on its right, and by
Hill's corps, facing its left.
The 12th corps (
Slocum's) held our extreme right, facing
Johnson's division of
Ewell's corps, and had recently been strengthened by
Lockwood's Marylanders, 2,500 strong; raising it to a little over 10,000 men.
Buford's cavalry, pretty roughly handled on the 1st, was first sent to the rear to recruit, but confronted
Stuart on our extreme right before the close of the 2d;
Kilpatrick's division being posted on our left.
Meade had resolved to fight a defensive battle; beside, as
Sedgwick's strong corps (15,400) had not yet come up, while the whole Rebel army might fairly be presumed present, it was not his interest to force the fighting.
Yet he had given orders to
Slocum, commanding on our right, for an attack on that wing with the 12th, 5th, and 6th corps so soon as the 6th should arrive; but