Gettysburg Live 150 – 10:30am – General Howard Arrives

As General Reynolds had requested that morning, Maj. General Oliver O. Howard brought his XI Corps to Gettysburg as quickly as he could.

Right about now, 150 years ago, Howard himself arrived in town and immediately sought out a building to use as an observation point, so that he could figure out where the fighting was happening and how best to deploy his troops. He had sent messengers off to find General Reynolds and figure out what the plan was.

Standing on the roof of the Fahnestock Building around 11:30am, he saw a messenger riding toward him from Seminary Ridge. The rider brought the grim news that Reynolds had been killed and that Howard was now the ranking officer on the field.

Howard turned command of the XI Corps over to General Carl Schurz, directing him to place his men to cover the roads north of town. Howard also set up a headquarters on Cemetery Hill, hoping to hold that ground as a fallback position in case they were overwhelmed by the unknown number of Confederates that were streaming in from the west and now from the north, too.

This would prove to be a very wise move.