GDG- Buford at Fairfield

[William Hewitt]

For Tom Ryan

Tom- Suggest you will find page 205 of General A.P. Hill from James
Robertson Jr. interesting.
Hill was with Heth when Pettigrew made his report in the afternoon of 30
June.    Hill quote:
"The only force at Gettysburg is cavalry, probably a detachment of
observation.  I am just from General Lee, and the information he has from
his scouts coorborates what I have received from mine-- that is the enmey is
still at Middleburg amd have not yet struct their tents"

I take from this:
1) Both Lee and Hill had scouts active in the area.  
2) this meeting between Hill and Lee was sometime around noon or earlier on
30 June.  So the information is valid only regarding morning or 30 June or
earlier.  Perhaps XI and XII Corps ????/
3)  Middleburg is about 15 miles south and slightly east of Gettysburg.
4)   Were these 2 Federal corps reported the missing 2 corps from Harrison's
report or were they part of the 5 in Harrison's report?
5)  Regardless, Lee knew at least 2 corps were within 15 miles of Gettysburg
on morning of 30 June or earlier.

Hope this helps. I was glad to meet you at the last Park seminar and look
forward to exchanging thoughts.

Bill Hewitt
------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 09:00:56 -0400
From: "Tom Ryan" <pennmardel at mchsi.com>
Subject: RE: GDG- Buford at Fairfield
To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Message-ID: <FEEOKINCPINMNKHDCDCEAEMIDKAA.pennmardel at mchsi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"

Hi J.D.,

Thanks for that info.  I am in the process of trying to determine what Lee
knew about the Union army following the report from the spy Harrison to
Longstreet and Lee on June 28 at Chambersburg that the Union army had
crossed the Potomac and was now in the vicinity of Frederick and South
Mountain.

While Buford was moving north from Mechanicstown (Thurmont) on June 29 with
two of his brigades with orders to find the Rebel army, Lee had sent scouts
south toward Frederick to verify Harrison's information.  It seems to me
that Lee's scouts and Buford's brigades should have run into each other
while they were heading in opposite directions.  But there is no evidence
that actually happened.  If Lee's scouts had made contact with Buford and
immediately sent a courier to inform Lee of this, then Lee would have had an
opportunity to move forces quickly to occupy Gettysburg (knowing that Union
forces were heading in that direction).

At any rate, the first known contact Buford made with the enemy was with the
Mississippi regiments at Fairfield, and if these units had alerted Heth,
Hill and Lee, then there also may have been enough time to beat Buford to
the punch, so to speak, by quickly occupying Gettysburg.

It appears, however, that Lee learned nothing from his scouts or from the
Fairfield contact with Buford; therefore, took no direct action to gain the
upper hand.

If you have any thoughts on this situation or can provide other facts that
relate to this story, it would be appreciated.

By the way, were the two Mississippi regiments identified?

Thanks again,

Tom

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