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The Battle of Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863

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Built circa 1797. the Cashtown Inn served as the first stagecoach stop west of Gettysburg. During the Gettysburg campaign of 1863, the Inn served as Confederate headquarters for General A.P. Hill. The Inn has appeared in the movie Gettysburg, in the Mark Nesbitt book and video Ghosts of Gettysburg, the book and video Haunted Gettysburg, and on the cover of Blue and Gray magazine.

The first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg almost certainly was fired by a picket - either Confederate or Union - north of town very early on the morning of July 1, 1863. However, the first to plant a marker taking credit for firing the first shot was the 8th Illinois Cavalry, who claimed Marcellus Jones borrowed Levi Shafer's carbine for the "honor". This marker can be found on US 30 (Chambersburg Pike) between the McPherson Farm and Marsh Creek.

This is the view Marcellus Jones would have had looking down the Chambersburg Pike towards Marsh Creek. Except...the road was dirt, he was hiding behind a rail fence and there were hundreds of Heth's Confederates advancing in a cloud of dust. Behind them was two-thirds of the Confederate army.

The first shot marker is at the intersection of Knoxlyn Road and US 30. It's easy to miss. Park on Knoxlyn Road and be careful of speeding cars on US 30. "In 1883, when he returned to Gettysburg with Alex Riddler,  Levi Shafer, Marcellus Ephraim Jones was 53 and sheriff of Du Page County; twenty years earlier, he had squeezed off a shot at Colonel BD Fry's men as they crossed Marsh Creek on their way to the momentous battle. The three veterans had a marker made and purchased a patch of ground "just over the fence from the Chambersburg pike, in a private dooryard, on the summit of the ridge . . . east of Marsh Creek."  (Benedict R Maryniak on his web site.)

Looking west from just north of Chambersburg Pike across from the McPherson farm. Heth's division left Cashtown around 5 a.m. It took until 9:30 a.m. to reach Herr Ridge in the distance of this photo. The leading brigade of Union infantry arrived about 10:30 a.m., marching cross-country to save time. Union Major General John Reynolds ordered the 2nd Maine Battery to take position in the vicinity of this canon.

Looking north towards the unfinished railroad cut. 10:30 a.m. A brigade under Lysander Cutler took up a position here. Two of his regiments (76th New York and 56th Pennsylvania) advanced toward West McPherson's Ridge in front of this picture. Confederate infantry suddenly appeared from the railroad cut (hidden by the tree line in this picture). Union artillery fire from here drove them back. Two onrushing Confederate regiments charged from the north (right) and drove back the Union regiments.

At the base of Buford's monument are four canon. John H. Calef of Buford's artillery wrote down the serial numbers of his guns after the engagement, taking special note to write down the serial of the first gun that he fired against the Confederates. That was serial number 233. After the war, when he heard they were putting up a monument to Buford, he gave those numbers to the Ordinance Department. The gun was found in California and they brought it back to Gettysburg. A plaque on the canon reads, in part, "Horse Battery 'A' US Artillery - The Opening Gun of the Battle - Fired from this spot - July First, 1863"

Looking south from the Buford monument towards the McPherson barn and Herbst Woods. In the morning of the first day, Archer's Confederates attacked from the west (right) across Willoughby Run. They were met by the famous Union Iron Brigade and repulsed. Confederate reinforcements led by Brockenbrough and Pettigrew forced the Iron Brigade to draw back to the Lutheran Seminary in the afternoon. This was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the first day.

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