Countdown to Gettysburg: June 30th 1863 -- Tillie Pierce Witnesses General Buford's Cavalry Arrive in Gettysburg

  Tillie Pierce witnessed the arrival of the first Union soldiers at Gettysburg on Tuesday, June 30:

  A great number of Union cavalry began to arrive in the town. They passed northwardly along Washington Street, turned toward the west on reaching Chambersburg Street, and passed out in the direction of the Theological Seminary. It was to me a novel and grand sight. I had never seen so many soldiers at one time. They were Union soldiers and that was enough for me, for I then knew we had protection, and I felt they were our dearest friends. I afterwards learned that these men were Buford’s cavalry, numbering about six thousand men.

Tillie Pierce, age 15 in 1863

  A crowd of “us girls” were standing on the corner of Washington and High Streets as these soldiers passed by. Desiring to encourage them, who, as we were told, would before long be in battle, my sister started to sing the old war song “Our Union Forever.” As some of us did not know the whole of the piece we kept repeating the chorus.

  A little less than Tillie’s estimate, Buford had just under 3,000 men in his command and a battery of six cannon. Daniel Skelly also watched on Chambersburg Street as thousands of cavalry rode through town and thought, “Surely now we were safe and the Confederate army would never reach Gettysburg . . . General Buford sat on his horse in the street in front of me, entirely alone, facing to the west in profound thought . . . It was the only time I ever saw the general and his calm demeanor and soldierly appearance . . . made a deep impression on me.”

Daniel Skelly, age 18 in 1863

  General Buford was a West Point graduate and a veteran of the early fighting against the Sioux Indians in Texas. In 1862, Buford had fought at Second Bull Run and Antietam. At Brandy Station he commanded a division of cavalry against Stuart’s troopers. His experience was about to prove invaluable over the next three days. As he moved his troopers into the open fields north of Gettysburg they encountered Confederate soldiers in Brigadier General James Pettigrew’s brigade sent to Gettysburg for supplies. Under strict orders not to bring on a fight, the rebels fell back to Cashtown and reported their discovery of Union cavalry occupying Gettysburg.

Brigadier General John Buford

  Buford sent scouts in all directions to locate and identify what enemy units were in front of him. He knew what was at stake. A half mile behind them, just outside the town, was a low ridgeline called Cemetery Hill. At each end of that ridge were larger hills: Culp’s Hill to the north and two hills at the southern end named Little and Big Round Top. It was well known that in any battle, whoever controlled the high ground possessed a great advantage over an attacking force. Buford knew he had
to delay Lee’s army long enough for the Union infantry to reinforce him and protect those heights, so he deployed his men in a series of two defensive lines centered along a wooded hill north of Gettysburg named McPherson’s Ridge.

  At 10:30 pm he sent a message to Major General John F. Reynolds, who commanded three of the infantry corps that were approaching Gettysburg from the east. He reported that Hill’s entire corps was at Cashtown, nine miles away to the west. Enemy pickets were in sight of his own along the Chambersburg Pike. Longstreet’s corps was behind Hill’s, perhaps by a day’s march. A captured enemy courier told him that Ewell’s corps was advancing toward Gettysburg from Carlisle from the north.

Major General John Fulton Reynolds

  Buford knew that by morning he would face an entire rebel corps of 25,000 men. By all accounts, Buford saw that Lee was concentrating his whole army at Gettysburg. If Ewell’s corps made it to the town by the next day, two thirds of Lee’s army—50,000 soldiers—would advance against whatever Union forces could reach Gettysburg in time. When one of his brigade commanders spoke confidently of whipping any rebels the next day, Buford said, “No, you won’t. They will attack you in the morning; and they will come ‘booming’—skirmishers three deep. You will have to fight like the devil to hold your own until supports arrive.”

(to be continued...) 

Read more about the Tillie Pierce and the Gettysburg campaign my new book for teens just published by Sky Pony Press, Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War, available at Amazon and BN.com.

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Daniel Skelly: A Young Gettysburg Hero Part One

To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.
                                                                                                       ― Leo Tolstoy

     What makes any memoir of value to a historian is its attention to detail, its objectivity, its descriptive qualities, and if the author is someone of historical importance, its interpretive analysis. What is remarkable about the memoirs by Daniel and Tillie are the details they remembered years later about what they witnessed, and their honesty. Each had a remarkable story to tell. Tillie would meet General Meade as she passed out water alongside the road. Much of her time over the three days of battle was spent at the Jacob Weikert farm helping the wounded. She also gave one of the most remarkable and accounts of the battle's aftermath--a catastrophe she described as "a strange and blighted land." 

    

     Daniel Skelly gave his own detailed account of the battle from his vantage point within the town of Gettysburg.  Daniel was an eighteen-year-old employee of the Fahnestock Brothers dry goods (clothing and supplies) company in Gettysburg. His brother, Johnston Hastings "Jack" Skelly, was a Union soldier—a corporal in the 87th Pennsylvania. Rumors of a coming invasion by a Confederate army were rife in the months preceding the battle. He wrote in his memoir years later:

Daniel Skelly in 1863

     The month of June, 1863, was an exciting one for the people of Gettysburg and vicinity. Rumors of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederate army were rife and toward the latter part of the month there was the daily sight of people from along the border of Maryland passing through the town with horses and cattle, to places of safety. Most of the merchants of the town shipped their goods to Philadelphia for safety, as was their habit all through the war upon rumors of the Confederates crossing the Potomac.

     The 28th and 29th were exciting days in Gettysburg for we knew the Confederate army, or a part of it at least, was within a few miles of our town and at night we could see from the house-tops the campfires in the mountains eight miles west of us. We expected it to march into our town at any moment and we had no information as to the whereabouts of the Army of the Potomac. 

     The next day, Tuesday June 30, two brigades if Union cavalry arrived in Gettysburg--almost 3,000 troopers and six cannons under the command of Brigadier General John Buford. The citizens of Gettysburg rejoiced and welcomed the soldiers as heroes. Daniel watched them arrive through town along Chambersburg Street:

     Surely now we were safe and the Confederate army would never reach Gettysburg.… General Buford sat on his horse in the street in front of me, entirely alone, facing to the west in profound thought... It was the only time I ever saw the general and his calm demeanor and soldierly appearance... made a deep impression on me.

Tillie Pierce witnessed the arrival of the troopers with awe remembering years later:

     It was to me a novel and grand sight. I had never seen so many soldiers at one time. They were Union soldiers and that was enough for me, for I then knew we had protection, and I felt they were our dearest friends.

 Brigadier General John Buford

     Little did they know that two entire Confederate corps--50,000 men, were headed towards Gettysburg and would begin to arrive the following morning. General Buford knew their only chance was to delay the enemy long enough for the Union army to arrive in force before his two brigades were pushed aside. When one of his brigade commanders spoke confidently of whipping any rebels the next day, Buford said, “No, you won’t. They will attack you in the morning; and they will come ‘booming’—skirmishers three deep. You will have to fight like the devil to hold your own until supports arrive.” 

     Daniel knew none of this except that the next day he might get to see some real action. He made plans to be in a position to witness the big show....

To Be Continued....

Look for my new book on Gettysburg for teens this June from Sky Pony Press: Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War. It can be pre-ordered at Amazon, BN.com and Indiebound.