The fighting on the morning of July 1 between the two brigades of the I Corps and those of Heth's division can be described as two separate battles, even though they were fought concurrently. On the Union left in McPherson's Grove was Meredith's Iron Brigade, rushing forward while loading their muskets on the run to stop the advance of Archer's embattled troops. Meredith had a slight numerical advantage of about 800 men, but more important was the advantage of not having been in battle for two hours. Though certainly not fresh (having come straight off of a forced march), the men with black hats were in a good position to beat back Archer's growingly weary soldiers.

Archer's men began their advance across Willoughby Run up the western slope of McPherson's Ridge when they realized they were no longer facing carbine fire but that of muskets. It did not take long to realize they were running into infantry - tough, hard fighting infantry. A blaze of musket fire rose from both sides when they were a mere 40 yards apart, and Meredith was wounded by a shell fragment during this initial wave. As the Iron Brigade surged forward, the fighting became its heaviest of the morning - the flag of the 24th Michigan fell 14 times; nine men of the regimental color guard were wounded (Hassler, 1970).

Map of late morning engagement

Unable to sustain his advance against his powerful foe, Archer ordered his men to fall back across Willoughby Run. The Iron Brigade continued their pursuit across the creek and took about 75 prisoners, one of whom was an exhausted General Archer. Upon being presented to a regimental captain, Archer was then taken to see Doubleday, a former old army friend. "Archer! I'm glad to see you," Doubleday exclaimed with his hand extended. "Well, I'm not glad to see you by any damn sight," Archer replied sternly, refusing to shake Doubleday's hand. Archer was the first general under Robert E. Lee to be captured (Foote, 1994, p. 76). And with his capture ended the morning affair on the southern end of the Union line on McPherson's Ridge.

North of the Chambersburg Pike was the brigade of Lysander Cutler who was not seeing the kind of initial success Meredith experienced. They had to be rushed into line just as the Iron Brigade was, but they had a little further to travel and no natural cover from shells and minie balls. They faced the five regiments of Joseph Davis - a nephew of Confederate president Jefferson Davis - who had seen no action up to this point. Davis' green troops were rushing across the open field from Herr Ridge north of the railroad cut toward Cutler's line. To meet this advance, General Wadsworth ordered three of Cutler's brigades be positioned north of the railroad grating and faced north while Reynolds had deployed two south of the Pike to assist in Archer's repulse (Hassler, 1970).

Both brigades numbered roughly 2,000 men. But Cutler's men were far more experienced, a fact that would certainly come into play during the ensuing engagement. From their concealed positions in the high grass beyond, Davis' men opened a murderous fire on Cutler's not yet fully positioned troops. Federals were falling quickly and Davis' men were gaining an advantage. Hall's 2nd Maine Battery on the Pike was able to halt the advance momentarily, but Davis' men continued on (Hassler, 1970). Cutler's men began to waver and Wadsworth ordered a retreat toward Seminary Ridge.

The elated Davis ordered his men over the crest of McPherson's Ridge and into the railroad cut, which appeared to be a tremendous cover for approaching the Union rear (Foote, 1994). Unfortunately for Davis, he did not recognize just how high the walls of the cut were until he and his men were inside; they could not fire out of it! Seeing the immense opportunity, Doubleday ordered the 14th Brooklyn and 95th New York regiments - those of Cutler's south of the Pike who had just finished in assisting in Archer's repulse - to do an about-face and march on Davis' troops who were making their way into the railroad bed.

Joined by Rufus Dawes' 6th Wisconsin regiment of the Iron Brigade, the three regiments surged forward toward the cut. Though they faced heavy fire from some Confederates lying along the southern rim of the cut, the Federals continued on. Following some tough hand-to-hand fighting, The Federals bore down on the trapped Rebels inside the grating. Dawes' shouted down to the Confederates to surrender or face a deadly fire (Hassler, 1970). While some attempted escape and experienced heavy casualties (but with some success), 250 graybacks gave in immediately. Davis and his survivors retreated all the way to Herr Ridge. Davis lost about half his men and all but two of his officers. The morning of July 1 belonged to the Federals.

It was about 11:00 that Archer and Davis had fallen back and a lull had settled over the field. Both sides were preparing for the fight they knew would soon continue, repositioning troops and bringing up reinforcements. For the North, the remaining divisions of the I Corps under Brigadier General John Robinson and General Rowley, comprising a total of about 6,000 men, were arriving from the Emmitsburg Road. Coming up from the South was Howard's XI Corps, numbering a total of 9,000 men. The remaining Union corps were still quite a ways off and were not due to arrive until after nightfall.

The Confederates were in much better shape as far as reinforcements were concerned. Two divisions from Ewell's II Corps - Rodes and Early - were approaching from the north along the Carlisle, Harrisburg, and York Roads. These divisions numbered 7,900 and 5,400, respectively. Arriving from the west were more elements of Hill's III Corps, namely the other two brigades of Heth's division under Brigadier General James Pettigrew (2,500 men) and Col. J.M. Brockenbrough (970) and Major General Dorsey Pender's division (6,700).

By 1:00 these new forces would be thrown into the field, over 25,000 Confederates and 18,000 Federals. And the arrival of these reinforcements would prove to cause something that General Lee had been, up to this point, admonishing his commanders to avoid at all costs: a general engagement. And with Lee still some distance off toward Chambersburg, the fight would continue without his immediate direction.

References

The Battle of Gettysburg Homepage (Maps)

Coddington, E. B. (1968). The Gettysburg campaign: A study in command. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Foote, S. (1994). Stars in their courses: The Gettysburg campaign. New York: The Modern Library.

Hassler, Jr., W. W. (1970). Crisis at the crossroads: The first day at Gettysburg. Gettysburg: Stan Clark Military Books.

Nofi, A. A. (1986). The Gettysburg campaign (3rd ed.). Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books.