Reynolds decided to fight. He ordered Buford to hold as best as they could while he hastened the left wing’s three corps forward. The general understood the importance of holding the Confederates northwest of Gettysburg long enough for the bulk of the army to arrive and occupy the high ground to the east and south of town. His men were delaying the enemy advance but were being pushed back. It was up to Reynolds whether the Federals would continue to fight at that location or withdraw. Buford filled in Reynolds on the situation. Reynolds met Buford at the latter’s observation post at the Lutheran Seminary. On the morning of July 1st, Brigadier General John Buford’s union cavalrymen were deployed in defensive positions on the northwest side of Gettysburg and engaged Confederate forces under the command of Major General Henry Heth as they advanced towards the town. The dismounted cavalrymen fought a delaying action and waited for the rest of the army to arrive. Buford sent word of the fighting to Reynolds, and the general rode ahead to the scene of the action. In late June 1863, Reynolds led the three corps (First, Third, and Eleventh) left wing of the Army of the Potomac as it advanced north towards Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Infantry, but was soon promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. Reynolds saw action as a brigade commander in the Fifth Corps during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign in Virginia he was captured on June 27th and exchanged in August. After his return, Reynolds was named commander of the Union Army’s First Corps. He was promoted to major general on November 29th, 1862. Initially, he was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 14th U.S. Reynolds was a West Point graduate and instructor at that institution when the Civil War began.
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