How much time did Buford's men have?

[MikeyB]

Before Cutler and Meredith came up, how was the cavalry doing? Were they holding their own or about to be overrun? Would the position have likely to have been overwhelmed if the infantry had been an hour or two behind?

How much time did the cavalry have until Ewell made his advance, which surely would have ended the Union stand in the absence of infantry support?

In short, was it desperate when the first I corp troopers approached?

 

[rpkennedy]

Before Cutler and Meredith came up, how was the cavalry doing? Were they holding their own or about to be overrun? Would the position have likely to have been overwhelmed if the infantry had been an hour or two behind?

How much time did the cavalry have until Ewell made his advance, which surely would have ended the Union stand in the absence of infantry support?

In short, was it desperate when the first I corp troopers approached?

It was desperate. The cavalry was pulling off of McPherson's Ridge and was getting ready to evacuate Seminary Ridge when Reynolds and the advance elements of Wadsworth's Division arrived between the ridges.

Ryan

 

[Belfoured]

Before Cutler and Meredith came up, how was the cavalry doing? Were they holding their own or about to be overrun? Would the position have likely to have been overwhelmed if the infantry had been an hour or two behind?

How much time did the cavalry have until Ewell made his advance, which surely would have ended the Union stand in the absence of infantry support?

In short, was it desperate when the first I corp troopers approached?

Strong recommendation - The Devil's to Pay by @ericwittenberg. There's no better analysis of Buford's delaying action.

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

Note that Buford wasn't in a stand up fight, as is portrayed in Gettysburg. That's not how cavalry fought against infantry. Buford used small bodies of men to cause enough of a nuisance to force Heth's men to advance slowly. The action had reached McPherson's Ridge by the time Wadsworth's Division arrived, but Buford's command was in little danger of being cut to pieces or captured en mass.

 

[rpkennedy]

Note that Buford wasn't in a stand up fight, as is portrayed in Gettysburg. That's not how cavalry fought against infantry. Buford used small bodies of men to cause enough of a nuisance to force Heth's men to advance slowly. The action had reached McPherson's Ridge by the time Wadsworth's Division arrived, but Buford's command was in little danger of being cut to pieces or captured en mass.

Exactly correct. According to Confederate records, the skirmishing was almost imperceptible to Heth's advancing troops. It was a few scattered shots here and there and that was about it. Archer's Brigade only suffered a couple wounded during the entire advance before running into the Iron Brigade on McPherson's Ridge.

Ryan

 

[thomas aagaard]

likely the most important effect of Bufords men being there, was that it stopped the csa units from simply marching up the road and forced them to spend time first deploying in to lines. And then to move forward in line... something that is always way slower than marching on a road.

 

[rpkennedy]

likely the most important effect of Bufords men being there, was that it stopped the csa units from simply marching up the road and forced them to spend time first deploying in to lines. And then to move forward in line... something that is always way slower than marching on a road.

Definitely. It took Heth's men something like four hours to march a couple of miles and that's entirely due to Buford's cavalry.

Ryan

 

[MikeyB]

Definitely. It took Heth's men something like four hours to march a couple of miles and that's entirely due to Buford's cavalry.

Ryan

Did they ever use their mounts in the retreat? or was it all effectively dismounted from start to finish?

 

[rpkennedy]

Did they ever use their mounts in the retreat? or was it all effectively dismounted from start to finish?

A little of both. The picket groups would dismount, fire a couple shots until the Confederates got close enough to potentially threaten them, then they'd remount and move back to the next position.

Ryan

 

[gc45]

It would appear Buford knew what he was doing and used his Calvary to perfection in slowing Heth to a crawl. 4 hours to travel 2 miles is a snails pace.