Gettysburg Campaign Chronology

by

Steve Schmidt

[Union Order of Battle] [Confederate Order of Battle] [Books Consulted]

Notes:

Roman numerals refer to Union corps (II Corps), English words refer to Confederate corps (Third Corps).

All times are approximate. On July 1-3, they should be regarded as plus or minus at least one hour; on other dates, they should be regarded as plus or minus at least two or three hours. In some cases where sources gave no precise times, I have indicated approximate times based on references to other events. Where necessary, I have referred to times as morning, afternoon, evening, or night if no more precise time was available.

Reports noted in the chronology were accurate ones unless it is specifically noted that they were inaccurate, in which case the inaccuracies are also noted.

Chronology:

Entries in gray describe the activities of Confederate leaders and troops. Entries in blue describe the activities of Union leaders and troops. Entries in green describe the activities of Stuart's brigades during their movement around the Union army. Entries in red describe combat between the two armies. Entries in black describe natural events (primarily weather).

May 14 Gen. Robert E. Lee travels to Richmond for a conference with Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. The Confederates are threatened in the West by Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant's campaign against Vicksburg, and the Army of Northern Virginia must react.
May 15 Lee, in Richmond, puts his plans for an invasion of the North before Davis and his advisors, hoping that the invasion will force the Union to detach troops from the Vicksburg campaign.
May 16 Davis's cabinet votes to approve Lee's plans.
May 17 At the request of Postmaster John Reagan, Davis's cabinet votes again on Lee's plans, and again approves them. Lee returns to the Army of Northern Virginia to put the plans into effect.
May 22 Maj. Gen. Darius Couch resigns as commander of II Corps, unwilling to serve under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac. Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock replaces him.
May 27 Col. G. H. Sharpe, Hooker's intelligence officer, reports plans for a Confederate offensive, marching towards the Union right.
May 30 Lee puts a re-organization of the Army of Northern Virginia into effect, made necessary by the death of Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson on May 10. Jackson's corps is split into two; Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell assumes command of Second Corps, and Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill assumes command of Third Corps.
June 2 The War Department offers command of the Army of the Potomac to Maj. Gen. John Reynolds, commander of I Corps; he asks to have a free hand in conducting its operations and, when this is not given, refuses the command.
June 3 Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws's division of First Corps leaves Fredericksburg, heading northwest towards Culpeper.
June 4 Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes's division moves out after McLaws. Their movement is spotted by Hooker's balloon corps.

Hooker learns some Confederate camps have been abandoned.

June 5 The rest of Second Corps follows McLaws and Rodes.

Hooker crosses the Rappahannock in force. He proposes to attack the remaining Confederate troops; President Abraham Lincoln vetoes the plan. The Confederates do not change their plans in response to Hooker's move.

Brig. Gen. John Buford reports the Confederate cavalry to be at Culpeper.

June 7 Hooker orders Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasanton to attack Culpeper and/or the Confederate cavalry with his cavalry corps.
June 8 Lee reviews five brigades of Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry at Brandy Station.
June 9 Battle of Brandy Station; Pleasanton's cavalry corps, reinforced by a brigade of infantry, crosses the Rappahannock and attacks Stuart's cavalry. The Confederates are initially surprised and fall back but eventually repulse the Union attack. Union troops retreat unmolested back across the river. Casualties include Brig. Gen. W.H.F. Lee, severely wounded, on the Confederate side; and Col. B.F. Davis (of Mississippi!), killed, on the Federal side.
June 10 Second Corps leaves Culpeper, moving north.

Hooker receives reports of Confederate infantry at Brandy Station. He telegraphs Lincoln and proposes to attack at Fredericksburg and then march on Richmond. Lincoln refuses him again.

The Union War Department announces the creation of a new department, the Department of the Susquehanna, commanded by Darius Couch (lately resigned from II Corps), to contain Federal troops in eastern and central Pennsylvania; it will not be under Hooker's control.

June 11 The lead elements of the Union Army begin to move north from Fredericksburg.
June 13 Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Division and Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson's (Stonewall) Division approach Winchester and force the Federal garrison (under Maj. Gen. Robert Milroy) into fortifications.
June 14 Early's and Johnson's divisions attack Winchester. Milroy's troops, defending it, retreat towards Harpers Ferry. Other Union garrisons in the lower Valley also fall back to Harpers Ferry or into Maryland.

Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler assumes command of the Federal troops at Harpers Ferry.

Union forces recross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg; the main body begins moving north.

June 15 3:30 a.m.: Johnson's division cuts off Milroy's retreat. After a three or four hour fight, Milroy's command is shattered and most of it is captured.

Lee orders First Corps, under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, and Third Corps, under Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, to leave Culpeper and Fredericksburg respectively, and come north.

The last Union troops, II Corps, leave Fredericksburg.

Brig. Gen. Alfred Jenkins's cavalry brigade and Rodes's infantry division cross the Potomac. Jenkins reaches Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and takes up defensive positions north of it.

June 15 Lincoln calls for 100,000 militia for six months service; there is little response.
June 17 The Union army is concentrated at Centerville, Virginia. Hooker orders Pleasanton to cross the Blue Ridge and locate Lee's army. There will be steady cavalry skirmishing in Loudoun County for the next four days

On rumors of approaching Union infantry, Jenkins withdraws from Chambersburg, falling back to Greencastle.

4:00 p.m.: David Gregg's Union cavalry division meets Fitz Lee's Confederate cavalry brigade at the battle of Aldie. After a heavy fight, Lee withdraws to Middleburg.

8:00 p.m.: Fitz Lee encounters Union cavalry under Col. Alfred Duffie at Middleburg and fighting begins there.

June 18 Duffie's command, trapped, scatters rather than surrender.

Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood's and Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's divisions cancel planned advances in response to the cavalry fighting.

June 19 First Corps enters the Shenandoah Valley at Ashby's and Snicker's Gaps.
June 21 Pleasanton, with Brig. Gen. James Barnes's infantry division in support, attacks Stuart and five Confederate cavalry brigades at Upperville. They capture Upperville and force Stuart into Ashby's Gap. McLaws's division comes up to support Stuart, and the Union cavalry does not cross the Blue Ridge.

Hill's corps reaches Berryville.

June 22 Early's division crosses the Potomac at Shepardstown.

Rodes's division enters Greencastle, the first Confederate infantry in Pennsylvania.

Jenkins fights a brief skirmish with a company of the 1st N.Y. Cavalry of Milroy's division, the first shots fired in Pennsylvania. Corporal William Rihl of the 1st N.Y. Cavalry is killed; he is the first death north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Knipe's brigade of 90-day militia withdraws from Chambersburg to Harrisburg.

Henry Halleck places under Hooker's command all troops of VIII Corps east of Cumberland, Maryland. He also gives Hooker partial, but incomplete, authority over the Washington D.C. defenses.

June 23 Lee gives Stuart permission to ride around the Union army, ordering him to join Ewell's right as soon as he crosses the Potomac.

John Mosby passes through the Union army and observes that it is not moving, making it easy for Stuart to pass through it.

Lee receives reports that Hooker's engineers have built a pontoon bridge over the Potomac at Edwards Ferry.

June 24 Rodes's division enters Chambersburg. Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson's division crosses the Potomac at Shepardstown. The crossing is reported to Hooker by Federal signal officers on Maryland Heights.

Mosby reports to Stuart that the Army of the Potomac has not moved for six days, and reaching the Potomac east of the Blue Ridge will not be difficult.

June 25 1:00 a.m.: Stuart, with Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton's, F. Lee's, and W.H.F. Lee's brigades (the latter commanded now by Col. John R. Chambliss), departs from the main body at Salem, marching east. No further communication is received by Lee from Stuart until July 2. Stuart leaves the brigades commanded by Brig. Gen. Beverly Robertson and Brig. Gen. William "Grumble" Jones with Lee, instructing them to report as soon as the Army of the Potomac crosses the Potomac.

Early morning: The Union Army begins marching north after a six-day halt. Hooker places Reynolds in command of the advanced wing; I Corps, III Corps, XI Corps, and Julius Stahel's cavalry division. I, III, and XI Corps cross the Potomac at Edwards Ferry (XI Corps at 3:45 a.m. the leading unit, III Corps at 6:00 p.m. the last). Robertson and Jones do not report the crossing to Lee.

Hooker orders the Harpers Ferry garrison to be ready to move to attack Lee's Potomac crossings.

Afternoon: Stuart's advance is blocked by the Federal II Corps, unexpectedly found marching north. Rather than turn back, he heads south, stopping for the night at Buckland, Virginia.

Maj. Gen. Harry Heth's and Maj. Gen. Dorsey Pender's divisions cross the Potomac at Shepardstown; Maj. Gen. George Pickett's division crosses at Williamsport.

June 26 3:00 a.m.: XII Corps crosses the Potomac at Edwards Ferry. The remaining units of the Army of the Potomac follow, the cavalry corps crossing last.

About 12,000 men are on duty in the Department of the Susquehanna under the June 15 call; 8,000 are from New York City. In response, Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania calls for 60,000 state militia for 90 days (or the duration of the emergency if less); 24,000 respond, but none will muster in time to participate in the campaign.

Morning: Early's division burns the Caledonia Iron works, owned by Congressman Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania.

Afternoon: Early, with Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon's brigade, enters Gettysburg, demands a ransom of $10,000 but does not get it. Gordon's men camp at Gettysburg that night. The rest of Early's division is marching on a parallel road north of Gettysburg.

Hood's and McLaws's divisions cross at Williamsport.

Robertson fails to bring his and Jones's brigades north into Maryland and Pennsylvania, as Stuart has ordered him to do when the Union Army is across the Potomac. Lee is left with a single cavalry brigade (Jenkins's) plus Brig. Gen. John Imboden's mounted infantry brigade.

Hooker requests permission to abandon Harpers Ferry and Maryland Heights.

Maj. Gen. William French arrives at Harpers Ferry and take command there.

Night: Stuart camps at Wolf Run Shoals on the south side of Occoquan Creek.

June 27 Lee enters Pennsylvania; Early enters York; Ewell, with Rodes's division, enters Carlisle. Longstreet and Hill are at Chambersburg and Fayetteville.

Maj. Gen. Isaac Trimble reports for duty; Lee sends him to join Ewell at Carlisle.

Evening: Stuart begins crossing the Potomac at Rowser's Ford in the evening.

Morning: Hooker goes to Harpers Ferry to inspect the garrison. While there he receives orders from Halleck informing him that he may not withdraw the garrison. Angered, Hooker offers his resignation as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

7:00 p.m.: The War Department sends an officer to the Army of the Potomac to relieve Hooker of command.

June 28 Midnight: The Union pontoon bridge at Edwards Ferry is taken up.

3:00 a.m.: Maj. Gen. George Meade, lately commanding V Corps, is put in command of the Army of the Potomac. The Union Army does not move this day while Meade takes over headquarters.

3:00 a.m.: Stuart completes his crossing of the Potomac at Rowser's Ford.

Early makes a $100,000 requisition, plus supplies, on the city of York; it is partially met and Early is satisfied.

Meade requests permission from Halleck to pull 7,000 men out of Harpers Ferry and bring them to Fredrick, leaving 4,000 in the garrison. Halleck approves the move.

Noon: Stuart captures a Union wagon train at Rockville Maryland. Chambliss's brigade pursues the retreating teamsters to within four miles of Washington. Stuart seizes 125 wagons of supplies, but they slow his march and he is only able to advance ten more miles that day, spending the night at Brookeville.

Gordon's brigade approaches the Wrightsville bridge over the Susquehanna, but Union militia burn it before it can be captured. Gordon's men help put out the fire after it spreads to the town of Wrightsville.

Evening: Ewell makes plans to attack and capture Harrisburg.

Night: Jenkins' brigade camps four miles from Harrisburg. It is as far north as any Confederate unit will get in the entire war.

Night: French reports that Harpers Ferry cannot be held by 4,000 men. Meade, without Halleck's permission, orders Harpers Ferry abandoned. Halleck approves the move after the fact.

Night: A Confederate scout named Harrison reports the movements of the Union army to Longstreet and Lee.

June 29 Morning: Lee is startled to learn of Stuart's camping at Occoquan on June 27.

While planning to attack Harrisburg, Ewell is ordered by Lee to turn south and march to Chambersburg. Hill is ordered to Cashtown, two divisions of Longstreet's corps to the camp on the east side of South Mountain near Cashtown, Pickett to garrison Chambersburg until relieved by Imboden.

Lee sends a second order to Ewell about eight hours after the first, directing him to move to Heidlersburg, then to Cashtown. Unfortunately Johnson's division has already moved by way of Chambersburg, delaying its arrival at Gettysburg by several hours.

Union lead elements reach Emmitsburg and Westminster, in Maryland. Buford, with Col. Thomas Devin's and Col. William Gamble's brigades, crosses Boonsboro Pass (west to east) and Monterey Pass (west to east), camping for the night at Fairfield.

5:00 p.m.: Stuart camps for the night near Westminster. That night he learns the position of the Union army; it is much farther north than he expects, and between him and Lee, though Stuart is not aware of that.

Night: Reynolds, with I Corps and XI Corps, camps at Emmitsburg.

June 30 Morning: Buford encounters two regiments of Confederate infantry with a battery north of Fairfield.

Morning: A battalion of cavalry attached to Early's division, marching west from York to Heidlersburg, encounters Union cavalry north of Hanover.

11:00 a.m.: Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew's brigade, of Heth's division, approaches Gettysburg, supposedly looking for shoes. Gamble's and Devin's brigades enter Gettysburg, while Pettigrew is still a half mile away. Pettigrew, under orders not to engage, withdraws as they arrive, and returns to Cashtown.

Afternoon: Stuart's brigades advance to Hanover, where they encounter Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry division. Stuart initially captures Hanover but is driven out of it in a Union counterattack. Stuart marches away east to Dover, Pennsylvania.

Evening: Heth asks Hill's permission to go back into Gettysburg the next day with his division. Hill grants it, and informs Lee of the decision that night.

July 1 1:00 a.m.: Meade orders the Union army to move north, and issues the Pipe Creek circular, outlining a defensive position along Pipe Creek to which the Union army should prepare to move in case the Confederates advance. He sends a message to Reynolds giving him authority to decide whether to fight at Gettysburg or fall back.

Morning: Stuart learns from Fitz Lee that Early's division has marched from York to Heidlersburg the day before; but rather than proceed there he decides to move to Carlisle, which Ewell left two days prior. The decision to move there delays his reunification with Lee for a full day.

Johnson's division, marching on the Chambersburg-Cashtown road, encounters Longstreet's corps. Johnson's division and its wagon train move to Cashtown in advance of Longstreet's corps, which waits behind.

Ewell, learning that Hill has gone to Gettysburg, orders Rodes and Early to go there as well.

Heth's division, supported by Pender's division, attacks Buford's cavalry. I Corps reinforces Buford and beats back the Confederate assault. Reynolds is killed; command passes to Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday.

Afternoon: Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard and XI Corps arrive; Howard takes command of the Federal forces; XI Corps reinforces the Union right.

The Confederate attack resumes. Heth, Pender, and part of Rodes attack I Corps west of town, while Ewell, with Early and the rest of Rodes attack XI Corps north of town. I and XI Corps fall back to Cemetery Hill. Casualties include Maj. Gen. Harry Heth, wounded, on the Confederate side; and Brig. Gen. Francis Barlow, seriously wounded and captured, on the Federal side.

XII Corps, arriving about 5:30 p.m., takes position on Culp's Hill, bolstering the Federal right flank.

Lee orders Ewell to take Culp's Hill "if practicable"; Ewell decides it is not practicable and makes no assault.

Meade sends Hancock to take command of all troops at Gettysburg. Hancock supersedes Howard, but defers to the XII Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum, when Slocum arrives at 7:00 p.m.. Meade orders the entire Union Army to move up to Gettysburg.

Stuart, approaching Carlisle, finds it occupied by Pennsylvania militia under Brig. Gen. W.F. "Baldy" Smith. He shells them briefly but does not launch an attack. Major Andrew Venable of Stuart's staff meets Lee at Gettysburg.

July 2 1:00 a.m.: Stuart withdraws from Carlisle and moves to to Gettysburg.

3:00 a.m.: Meade arrives at Gettysburg in person and assumes command.

Daybreak: Captain S.R. Johnston of Lee's staff and Major J.J. Clarke of Longstreet's staff report to Lee that Little Round Top is empty and no Union troops are near it. Lee orders Longstreet to attack the Union left flank, and Ewell to attack Culp's Hill with Johnson's division as soon as he hears Longstreet's attack begin.

9:00 AM: Meade sends an aide with orders to Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles to post III Corps on the left of II Corps, reaching to Little Round Top. Sickles rides to Meade and asks how much discretion he has in placing the troops, getting a vague reply. Sickles posts his troops, rendering Captain Johnston's report out of date, but his line cannot quite reach Little Round Top.

Morning: The 3rd Maine and a detachment of sharpshooters under Col. Hiram Berdan advance into Pitzer's Wood and encounter Brig. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox's Brigade of Anderson's division moving southwards along Seminary Ridge. The resulting skirmish makes Sickles nervous about the safety of his line; Sickles asks Meade for advice but gets no helpful reply.

1:00 p.m.: Captain Johnston reports to Longstreet that his corps, advancing to attack the Union left, will be detected if it continues. Longstreet orders a countermarch; his units reach their attack positions undetected, but the countermarch delays the attack for about 90 minutes.

Afternoon: Sickles advances his line forward, cutting his connection with the rest of the Union Army.

Late afternoon: Hood's division attacks Little Round Top and the left flank of Sickles's line at 4:00 p.m. Two divisions of V Corps are sent into the fight to defend Little Round Top and reinforce Sickles's left at the Devil's Den and Wheatfield. At 5:30 p.m., McLaws attacks Sickles's front and right flank; III Corps is crushed and forced back to retreat, but reinforcements from II Corps and elsewhere hold the original line along Cemetery Ridge. Casualties include Generals Pender, Semmes, Barksdale (killed or mortally wounded) and Hood (seriously wounded) on the Confederate side; and Generals Weed, Willard, Zook (killed or mortally wounded) and Sickles (seriously wounded) on the Federal side.

Night: Johnson's division attacks Culp's Hill and is able to seize some trench lines that had been abandoned by troops sent to reinforce the Federal left; part of Early's division attacks Cemetery Hill. Union troops which had been defending Cemetery Ridge rush back to the right to repulse him.

Meade convenes a council of war. Near midnight, the council votes to stay in position and await attack one more day.

July 3 Daybreak: Both the Union and Confederates prepare attacks against the other's positions on Culp's Hill. The Union artillery opens at 4:45am, but Johnson's infantry division attacks before the Union infantry does. The attack does not make any progress.

Morning: Two more Confederate attacks by Johnson's division are repulsed by the Union infantry. Following the repulse of the last, around 9:00 a.m., the Union makes some local counterattacks, retaking a small amount of lost ground.

Afternoon: Confederate artillery opens a massive bombardment against Cemetery Ridge at 1:30 p.m.. After about 90 minutes, Pickett's division, supported by Heth's division under Pettigrew and two brigades of Pender's division under Trimble, attack Cemetery Ridge and are repulsed with heavy losses. Casualties include Generals Armistead, Garnett (killed or mortally wounded), Trimble and Kemper (seriously wounded and captured) on the Confederate side, and Generals Hancock and Gibbon (seriously wounded) on the Federal side.

2:45 p.m.: Stuart's cavalry circles around the Union right and attacks Union cavalry under Gregg and Brig. Gen. G.A. Custer, but cannot break through to the Union rear.

5:30 p.m.: Kilpatrick's cavalry charges Hood's division, now under the command of Brig. Gen. Evander Law, on the Confederate right and is easily beaten back. Union Brig. Gen. Elon Farnsworth is killed in the attack.

Evening: Couch orders a brigade of cavalry of the Department of the Susquehanna, commanded by Colonel Lewis Pierce, to march from Bloody Run (modern-day Everett, Pennsylvania) to Chambersburg, to try to cut off Lee's route back to Virginia.

Night: Lee decides to retreat. Johnson's division falls back to Seminary Ridge.

July 4 Before dawn: Early's division falls back to Seminary Ridge, abandoning the town of Gettysburg.

Morning: Union troops from XI Corps enter Gettysburg unopposed. Meade sends his cavalry towards Cashtown, Emmitsburg, and Fairfield, hoping to intercept any retreating Confederate columns.

Lee, hoping to simplify his retreat, sends a flag of truce through the lines proposing an exchange of prisoners. Meade refuses; he has already sent his prisoners to the rear, and does not have authority to agree in any event.

Union cavalry from French's command attack Falling Waters and destroy the Confederate pontoon bridge there. It is Lee's only bridge over the Potomac.

Afternoon: Rain begins falling at Gettysburg, making further combat impossible and movement, especially on South Mountain, slow and difficult.

4:00 p.m.: Imboden's brigade, escorting the Confederate's ambulances and supply train, departs Gettysburg, headed for Chambersburg.

Evening: Union corps commanders vote 5-2 to remain in position until they are certain the Confederates are retreating, and to pursue only with cavalry if they are.

Kilpatrick's cavalry attacks Confederate cavalry guarding Monterey Pass over South Mountain, through which Lee plans to retreat; but thinks himself outnumbered and falls back.

Third Corps begins to withdraw at 9:00 p.m., followed by First Corps around 11:30 p.m.

July 5 Pierce's cavalry attacks Imboden's brigade south of Chambersburg, capturing 90 of Stuart's wagons and some 650 prisoners.

2:00 a.m.: Second Corps begins to withdraw; mud slows their retreat, and they require 14 hours to march the nine miles to Fairfield.

Morning: VI Corps advances and finds the Confederates gone. It advances after them in the direction of Fairfield.

Brig. Gen. Hermann Haupt, superintendent of U.S. Military Railroads and West Point classmate of Meade's, arrives at Gettysburg and encourages Meade to pursue Lee. Meade refuses curtly; Haupt reports back to Halleck and Lincoln that Meade is not pursuing as rapidly as he should.

Afternoon: Meade orders the rest of the Army of the Potomac to start moving south and southeast.

Evening: VI Corps encounters Lee's rear guard, a brigade of Early's division, east of Fairfield, and fights a brief, inconsequential skirmish.

Imboden arrives at Williamsport, Maryland, and finds the pontoon bridge destroyed by high water. Heavy rain has made the Potomac unfordable.

Warren reports the results of VI Corps's advance to Meade. Meade cancels his earlier orders and sends the army towards Emmitsburg.

July 6 Morning: Sedgwick wrongly reports that Monterey Pass over South Mountain is defended in force and that he cannot force it. Meade again decides to move his army to Middletown, Maryland.

Evening: Buford's division attacks Imboden's brigade at Williamsport. Most of the rest of Stuart's cavalry and Kilpatrick's division join in. Union forces are repulsed, but hold Boonsboro for a Union concentration.

First Corps reaches Hagerstown.

July 7 Torrential rains make all roads except major ones nearly impassible.

First Corps arrives at Williamsport. Confederate wounded begin crossing the Potomac on flatboats. Confederate infantry entrenches on a six-mile line between Conococheague Creek and Falling Waters.

Meade arrives in person at Fredrick. He orders his army to move to that point, then to cross South Mountain and catch Lee before he can recross the Potomac. French sends a brigade to reoccupy Maryland Heights.

July 9 Most of the Army of the Potomac is concentrated at Boonsboro and Rohrersville. Supply difficulties prevent them from advancing for two days.Union forces from the Department of Washington and some from XVIII Corps reinforce Maryland Heights; there are 6500 there under the command of Brigadier General Henry Naglee of XVIII Corps.
July 11 Lee, unable to recross the Potomac due to continued high water, puts his army into a defensive line around Falling Waters and awaits attack.

Afternoon: Meade brings the Army of the Potomac forward from Boonsboro into contact with Lee's army.

July 12 Morning: The last Confederate troops withdraw from Hagerstown; Smith's forces occupy it after their departure.

Afternoon: Rain resumes falling.

Evening: Meade calls a council of war; his corps commanders vote 5-2 not to attack Lee's line at Falling Waters.

July 13 Morning: The Confederates finish constructing a pontoon bridge across the Potomac. At the same time, the Potomac recedes enough for the Williamsport ford to be used. First and Third Corps cross at the bridge that evening, Second Corps at the ford.

Afternoon: Heavy rain begins falling and the Potomac begins to rise again, but Second Corps is able to complete its crossing.

July 14 Before dawn: Union cavalry reports the departure of the Confederate army.

11:00 a.m.: Buford's and Kilpatrick's cavalry divisions attack Heth's infantry division, the Confederate rear guard. Brig. Gen. Johnston Pettigrew is mortally wounded, and the Yankees take 300 prisoners. The campaign is over; the Union army does not cross the Potomac until July 17.

November 19 Federal cemetery at Gettysburg dedicated; Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address.