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292 24th June, under the command of Brigadier-General George H. Steuart, and ordered to Mercersburg and McConnellsburg. In the execution of the duty assigned it was required to perform some heavy marching, as the following itinerary record will show:

Thus it appears that the men of the Third brigade had marched, within the nine days preceding the battle, at least 133, perhaps as much as 138 miles. But, though weary and footsore, they moved forward with alacrity to take part in the great conflict which was already begun. In the first day's action they were not engaged, the enemy having been driven from the field by A. P. Hill, Rodes, and Early before their arrival. The time of their arrival may be fixed by the circumstance which I distinctly remember, viz: the arrival of General Lee upon the field, his survey of the enemy's position on Cemetery Hill with his glass, and the dispatch of one of his staff immediately in the direction of the town.

Passing over the scene of conflict, where the line of battle could be in some places distinctly traced by the ranks of dead Federal soldiers, they entered the town of Gettysburg a little before dusk. (The time of our entering the town I fix by the fact that I easily read a letter handed me by Major Douglass.) After considerable delay the brigade moved to the east and southeast of the town and halted for the night, the men lying down upon their arms in confident expectation of engaging the enemy with the morning light.