July 2: General Meade's Headquarters on Cemetery Ridge at 9:00 pm

Union General Meade's
 headquarters on
 Cemetery Ridge.

After a long day of fighting along the Union lines, near Gettysburg, it was time for the Generals to meet at Meade's Headquarters on Cemetery Ridge.





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

The main room is the living
area with 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.

Twelve men, wearing wool,

crowded into this very small

room on that hot, humid

summer night.

Ten more would come &

make reports.

General Meade needed a clear picture of what had occurred up and down the Union lines that day.  He needed intelligence on Confederate movements and a complete report on the status of the his Army's locations, their needs and impressions from his commanders.   The Generals talked for hours about the day's battle, the terrain, what worked and what didn't work.  After gathering information, Meade put questions to the group and they voted on each one.

Questions before Meade's Council of War:
Do we stay or do we move closer to our supply base?  The decision was made to stay.
Do we attack or do we wait for Confederate assaults?  The decision was to wait to be attacked.
If we stay and fight, for how long?  The decision was that the Army of Potomac would stay in Gettysburg and "fight it out."

As the meeting broke up, Union Generals had plans for the third and final day of the battle at Gettysburg.