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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The Battle of Gettysburg: Union General Meade Arrives on Day Two

Union General George Meade and the Fifth Corps were in Frederick, Maryland on June 28, 1863.  He received the letter from President Abraham Lincoln giving him command of the Army of the Potomac.

As General Meade started making plans for his new command, messengers brought word of Confederate troops in southern Pennsylvania.  Their movements showed that the Army of Northern Virginia could be converging at  Gettysburg, a small town at the hub of a nine roads. Roads running southeast from Gettysburg could be used by the Confederates to attack Washington, D.C.  General Meade and the Fifth Corps started moving north to Gettysburg.






 selected a house to use as his
headquarters on Cemetery Ridge.






The abandoned two room house was recently vacated by the Lydia Leitser, a widow, and her six children.  With Armies massing and fighting north and east of Gettysburg, Lydia took her family to a relative's home on the Baltimore Turnpike to wait out the battle.

The location of Meade's Headquarters became a hive of activity with messengers arriving with information on the fighting along the Union Lines, enemy troop movements and leaving with new orders for officers.





This tiny house is open to the
public on Saturday & Sunday
from June 10 through
August 13, 2017.






Six people at a time
are allowed to tour
the tiny home.










The main room has a hearth,
wash stand, some storage
cabinets, a hutch to store 
kitchenware & a table
with chairs.







This bedroom is where General
Meade met with his commanders
at 9:00 pm on July 2nd.









12 men, wearing wool, 
crowded into this very
small room on that hot,
humid summer night.

10 more would come in
& give their reports.




The Generals talked for hours and the decisions made in this room shaped the third and final day of battle at Gettysburg.

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