Credit: Library of Congress
Sometime around 6:30 a.m. on June 30, Confederate Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew (1828-1863) left camp near Cashtown and headed toward Gettysburg to reconnoiter and collect supplies. A successful lawyer before the war, Pettigrew and his brigade of North Carolinians had only recently joined Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. By mid-morning, Pettigrew's advance guard reached Seminary Ridge at the western edge of Gettysburg and there saw Union cavalry approaching from the south. Ordered not to fight if he encountered opposition, Pettigrew withdrew, not knowing whether they were Union militia or the lead elements of the Army of the Potomac was the question. And the answer would come on the morrow; July 1, 1863.
