Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 37.djvu/130

122 and intentions were fully known to Hancock, and he was instructed, that if in his opinion the position at Gettysburg was favorable for a battlefield that he should advise him and he would order up all the troops. At 5:25 P. M. Hancock dispatched to Meade from the field that he had arrived an hour before, and found that the troops had given up the front at Gettysburg and the town, and had "taken position in Cemetery, which could not well be taken, but could easily be turned. That the battle was then quiet, and 1 he thought they would be all right until night, when it could better be determined what was best to be done: That he thought they could retire, and if not, they could fight, as the ground appears not unfavorable with good troops."

Shortly after Hancock sent another dispatch saying, that he regarded the position as a very strong one, that it had the disadvantage, however, of being easily turned, and that it remained for the General commanding to determine whether the battle should be fought at Gettysburg or at the first place selected by him. When Slocum arrived on the field, Hancock transferred the command to him, and returned to report to Meade. The latter left Taneytown at 10 P. M. and arriving upon the ground at 1 A. M. on the morning of the 2d. Hancock rejoined his corps, which arrived about 7 A. M., the three divisions being posted along the crest from Cemetery Hill towards Round Top, connecting on the right with the eleventh corps, and on the left with a division of the third corps. Sykes, with the 5th corps, left Union Mills the morning of the 1st, and marching by Hanover, reached the ground about 8 A. M., on the 2d, covering a distance of twenty-six miles, and took position on the right near Rock Creek.

Sedgwick with the sixth corps left Manchester on the 1st, and after a march of over thirty miles, was on the ground by the afternoon of the 2d, and one division supported the fifth corps in its engagement after 5 P. M. Two brigades of Birney's division of the third corps reached the ground about sunset the first day, and two brigades of Humphrey's division arrived on the following morning.

There is no doubt that Meade, before he reached the battlefield, anticipated a renewal of the fight on the 2d, and even