Union Headquarters monuments > Cavalry Corps
The monument to the 1st Division of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac is west of Gettysburg on Reynolds Avenue. (Reynolds Avenue South tour map)
Monument to the 1st Division of the Cavalry Corps. Seminary Ridge is in the background, with the modern buildings of the Lutheran Theological Seminary.
From the monument
Army of the Potomac
Cavalry Corps
First Division
Brig. Gen. John Buford
First Brigade Col. Wm. Gamble
Second Brigade Col. Thos. C. Devin
Reserve Brigade Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt
June 29. Engaged in picketing scouting and patrolling westerly and northerly to Hagerstown. Finding no Confederate force Gen. Buford with the First and Second Brigades recrossed the mountains and encamped near Fairfield.
June 30. Arrived at Gettysburg at 11 A. M. as a detachment of Heth’s Confederate Division was about to enter but withdrew on the approach of the two Brigades of the Division. Gen. Buford deployed his Cavalry along the ridge east of Willoughby Run between the Mummasburg and Fairfield Roads with pickets well advanced.
July 1. Was attacked between 8 and 9 A. M. by Heth’s Division and Pegram’s Artillery Battalion which were held in check until the arrival of First Corps. The Second Brigade picketed the approaches from the north and retarded the advance of Ewell’s Corps until Eleventh Corps arrived. About 4 P. M. retreated to Cemetery Hill and formed on left of town and bivouacked for the night in front of Little Round Top.
July 3. Started in the morning for Westminster to guard Army trains. The Reserve Brigade Cavalry Corps arrived about noon on the Emmitsburg Road and engaged for four hours the Confederate right.
Casualties Killed 1 Officer 27 Men Wounded 12 Officers 104 Men Captured or Missing 6 Officers 268 Men Total 418
Brigadier General John Buford
Brigadier General John Buford commanded the division at the Battle of Gettysburg. Buford (West Point Class of 1847) was a professional Army officer from Kentucky whose grandfather served under Robert E. Lee’s father in the Revolution and whose half-brother and cousin were Union and Confederate generals.
It was John Buford who decided that a battle would be fought at Gettysburg when he chose to defend the roads into town from approaching Confederate infantry. His skillful delaying tactics bought time for the Union First Corps to arrive on the field, setting into motion the events that saw the North defending the excellent position of high ground south and east of the city.
Union Brigadier General John Buford
Location of the monument
The monument is west of Gettysburg on the east side of Reynolds Avenue. It is about 530 feet south of Chambersburg Road (US 30).