GDG- What if: Buford (or replacement) and not Stuart

[Alan D. Brunelle]

The mind works in a strange way - especially early in the morning, 
pre-caffeine - but when I read Michael Davidson's statement: "I'd be 
interested in some 'what ifs' had the battle been delayed until Stuart 
was present, given the extensive deployment of the federal cavalry" - it 
got me thinking about something else: The has always been this minor- to 
moderately-sized controversy concerning Buford's men departing the field 
on Day 2 (without replacement), and the supposed negative impact that 
had on events. (In fact the most recent Gettysburg Magazine has a nice 
article by Eric Wittenberg on this topic.) But one thing I don't recall 
ever seeing was what difference having calvary on that flank would have 
had on the battle itself*.

There are two considerations:

    * If the calvary was basically where it was (either Buford or his
      replacements), what difference would they have made? [Assuming
      Sickles kept his line where Meade wanted it, and the calvary
      screened his front and flank.]
          o My guess here is that the calvary would have better known
            about the extent of the flanking maneuvers by Hood & McLaws,
            thus (perhaps) given more time to Meade (et al) to defend
            that flank better/sooner.
                + But is this necessarily true? Sickles sent infantry
                  out as scouts, and was able to determine the right
                  thing given the wrong information (right being
                  Confederates are flanking, wrong being he found the
                  wrong guys). My guess is that Meade would have paid
                  more attention to calvary than Sickles?!

    * Given that Sickles wanted to move his line forward, where would
      the displaced calvary be sent to?
          o Perhaps they would have been a barrier to Hood and perhaps
            McLaws troop movements - as they would have been moved
            westwards & southwards one would guess.

Anyways, I don't actually recall having read anything specific about 
what would have been expected of the calvary if there were any down 
along the Emmitsburg road area, so I thought I'd throw this out.

Alan
* Even pre-caffeine I can see the Canadian French influence coursing 
through my veins in this sentence - sort of like "I threw my mother down 
the stairs a kiss." :-)