Part 1 of Essay
In July of 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Army Of Northern Virginia of 75,000 men and the 97,000 man Union Army Of The Potomac under General George G. Meade met, by chance, when a Confederate brigade sent forward for supplies observed a forward column of Meade's cavalry. Of the more than 2,000 land engagements of the Civil ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... were being "explored" for much needed supplies to continue the Southern offensive. While looking in Gettysburg, Pettigrew's brigade spotted Burford's cavalry on a ridge a mile west of town. began on July 1 with Confederate troops attacking that Union cavalry division on McPherson Ridge, west of town. Out-numbered, the Union forces managed to hold, and even drive the Confederate army back, after the addition of John Reynold's Infantry division (and Reynold's subsequent death on the front lines). They pre ....