Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2 -3, 1863

by Eric J. Wittenberg

At six on the morning of July 3, Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, commander of the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps, instructed Gregg to move his division to a position between White Run and Cemetery Hill in the event of a change in the main Union line. If no such change occurred, Gregg was to remain at White Run. “This point is so important that it must be held at all hazards,” ordered Pleasonton.14 However, the astute Gregg recognized that with Buford’s division now in Maryland and Kilpatrick’s two brigades moving to cover the Union left farther south, his obedience to this order would leave the army’s right flank dangerously unguarded. The Low Dutch Road provided a route into the rear of the Army of the Potomac’s position, and Gregg knew that leaving the critical road junction unguarded provided a recipe for disaster.