HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF
THE POTOMAC,
July 1, 1863
– 1.10 p.m.
Major-General HANCOCK,
Commanding Second Corps:
GENERAL: The major-general commanding has just been informed
that General Reynolds has been killed or badly wounded. He directs that you
turn over the command of your corps to General Gibbon; that you proceed to the
front, and, by virtue of this order, in case of the truth of General Reynolds'
death, you assume command of the corps there assembled, viz, the Eleventh,
First, and Third, at Emmitsburg. If you think the ground and position there a
better one to fight a battle under existing circumstances, you will so advise
the general, and he will order all the troops up. You know the general's views,
and General Warren, who is fully aware of them, has gone out to see General
Reynolds.
LATER – l.15 p.m.
Reynolds has possession of Gettysburg, and the enemy are
reported as falling back from the front of Gettysburg. Hold your column ready
to move.
Very respectfully,
&c.,
DANL. BUTTERFIELD,
Major-General, Chief
of Staff.
(Copy to Major-General Howard.)
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 37; The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,
Series I, Volume 27, Part 3 (Serial No. 45), p. 461
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