Gettysburg

He didn't hear it; rather it was a feeling in the air, a certain tension, a distant pressure. Looking to the side of the road, he saw where several men had broken away from the column, climbed up into trees, and were shading their eyes against the morning sun. They were looking to the east. One of the men was pointing, exclaiming that there was 'mischief.'

There was a fight up ahead.

The pass came down out of the mountain and into a sloping orchard. Lee turned from the road, weaving through a broken-down section of fence, and cantered through the rows of peach trees, the nearly ripened fruit hanging thick on the branches.

It was ground he had examined on a map, but only now was he seeing it for the first time. Yet already he knew it the steep, dropping slope that offered a perfect defensive position to either side of the road, the orchards and pastures on the lower slope providing clear fields of fire. It was his fallback position, a place where he had hoped to lure the Army of the Potomac into battle, but what he was feeling in the air whispered to him that such plans were in the past

Longstreet rode beside him, quiet his staff trailing behind.

Lee reined in by a small clapboard-sided church and dismounted. There, to the east was a darker cloud, dirty yellow and gray, eight, maybe ten miles off. A slight tremor in the air, a distant thump of a summer storm far away, of a battle not so far away. Longstreet was still beside him, glasses raised.

'More than a skirmish,' Longstreet announced. 'Spread out across a half mile or more of front'

'1 knew nothing of this,' Lee said, looking around at his staff;

They shifted uncomfortably; all were silent.

'Courier coming,' Longstreet announced, as the rider approached on a lathered mount reined in, saluted, and handed the dispatch to Taylor.

'From General Heth, sir,' Taylor announced. 'He is engaged before Gettysburg. He reports contact with at least one brigade of Union cavalry.'

'When was that sent?' Longstreet asked.

'Eight-thirty this morning, sir.'

Longstreet pulled out his pocket watch and sighed. 'Two hours ago. If it was just cavalry, Harry would have pushed them back by now. I think there's infantry up there, sir.'

Lee, still dismounted, said nothing, uncasing his field glasses and slowly scanning the horizon to the east A shower of rain passing close by half obscured the view. He caught a flash of what appeared to be artillery, clouds of smoke hanging low in the heavy morning air, again blocking off the view.

The courier sent forward earlier to ascertain the reason for the delay on the road came back in and reported. Johnson's division coming down from the north was filing onto the same road up ahead, their supply wagons, thousands of men, creating a snarl of confusion.

Lee looked at Taylor coldly. 'That was not the order of march I detailed last night'

'There must have been some confusion, sir.'

'Obviously,' Lee replied sharply.

He turned away with head lowered, field glasses dangling from his neck, hands clasped behind his back, a gesture that indicated to those around him that he was on edge.

The tie-up on the road was unacceptable. It could be expected with green troops, but this was an army that needed to move fast especially if a battle was developing just ahead. Someone had 'misunderstood' orders yet again. It had happened two months ago at Salem Church, and a certain victory had been thrown away. He would not let it happen again. Not today, especially not today, with so much at stake.

'Colonel Taylor, would you please get out the maps.'

There was a scurry of activity. The church was found to be unlocked; a table and chairs were carried out Lee, like Jackson, refused to use a place of worship for military activities and hesitated even to intrude on a private residence. The furniture was set up under a wide-spread elm behind the church. The headquarters map was unrolled on the table and Lee came over, Longstreet and the staff gathering around.

The courier from Heth was still with them, and Lee looked up. 'Lieutenant, is General Heth in the town?' He hesitated, looking again at the map, 'Gettysburg?'

The courier, somewhat nervous, came up to the table and shook his head. 'Ahh, no sir. There's a big school building up on the crest of the hill just to the west of the town. The Yankees are dug in there. We got right up to it yesterday before retiring back when the Yankee cavalry rode in. I heard the boys say it was a Lutheran seminary.'

‘That's west of the town?' Longstreet interrupted.

'Yes, sir.'

'Any infantry?'

'We didn't see any, sir.'

'They're there,' Lee said quietly, looking up from the map and back to the east. 'Harry would have driven them by now if it was just cavalry. It's obvious he hasn't; the battle is spreading.'

'Heth's orders were to probe, not seek a fight,' Longstreet interjected. Lee nodded.

'We don't know what's up there,' Longstreet continued, and he traced the network rjf roads coming into Gettysburg. 'They could be moving up right now, and we're spread out'

'I know that' Lee replied. This time his tone indicated that he wanted silence.

More couriers were coming in as the minutes dragged out while Lee stood silent, gaze locked on the map. Reports now of two Union infantry corps, definitely the Union's First Corps, possibly the Eleventh as well.

'Sir?'

It was Pete.

'Yes, General?'

'Their entire army might be deploying behind that town.'

'You're advising me to break off.'

'Sir, Harry Heth stuck his neck into it up there,' and Pete pointed off to where the plumes of smoke were boiling up. 'There's confusion on the road; we'll be feeding in piecemeal the rest of the day. Pull Heth back. This land right here,

sir, it's good ground. They'll come up, just like at Fredericksburg last December. The politicians back in Washington will be screaming at Meade to attack. He's new to his job as commander. He'll feed them in. Atop these heights, we can mow them down.'

Lee stepped back from the map, looking to where Pete was pointing. The ground was good, right on the eastern flank of the mountain. Orchards dotted the upper slope, and even as he looked Pete continued to press his case.

'Guns up in the orchards-just drop a few trees for clear fields of fire-infantry farther downslope. Flanks anchored, and a secured line of communications behind us back to Chambersburg. Just like Fredericksburg, even better, sir, with a narrower front Let them come on, sir.'

Lee nodded, then motioned for Longstreet to mount Lee got into the saddle and rode down the slope, Longstreet coming up by his side. Cutting across an open pasture, reining in at the edge of a cornfield where the stalks were already waist high, they stopped. Lee turned and looked back up the slope. Longstreet was right; the ground was good, very good.

The Dutchman, feeling that he was winning his point continued to press the argument 'They'll come up these slopes, and it will be a slaughter.'

'Malvern Hill in reverse,' Lee said quietly. 'One year ago today.'

Longstreet nodded. Everyone in the army knew Malvern Hill was a sore spot with Lee, a battle he wished he had never fought a disaster of disorganized brigades charging up an open slope into the muzzles of over a hundred Union guns.

'It will never happen,' Lee said quietly, eyes locked on the slope they had just ridden down. '

‘Sir’

'Always consider the position from the view of your opponent Look at this place,' Lee announced, pointing. 'Would you attack if they were up there?'.

'I don't quite follow you, sir.'

'Just that, General,' Lee replied sharply. 'Neither you nor I would attack if those people were dug in here. We