of the men join the Twentieth Maine of their own will.
             General John Buford, leader of the Union cavalry, rides into Gettysburg and discovers Confederate troops moving nearby. He realizes that the two armies may end up fighting in the town, so he takes his men and positions them along the hills in the area. He thinks that if the Confederates attack he can hold the position until General John Reynolds arrives with his infantry to reinforce him.
             On the morning of July 1, General Robert E. Lee rises and curses Stuart for not providing him with information on the Union's movements. With out the eyes of Stuart He is "blind". He has no idea what the Union's position is of the army's strength. Lee meets with Longstreet and asks his opinion of the situation. Longstreet wants to come between the Union army and Washington, D.C. He wants to use defensive tactics which he feels will give the Confederates a much better chance of winning the battle. Lee refuses the Idea. He wants to smash the Union army in one decisive stroke and since both armies are converged in a single spot, he feels this is the time and the place to do so.
             The battle at Gettysburg begins when the Confederates under General Heth attack Buford's men thinking they are just a group of militia. Buford holds the Confederates off until Reynolds' infantry arrives with fresh men. Reynolds fights off the Confederate attack, but is soon killed. Lee arrives in Gettysburg and is angered to find the armies fighting in full force against his orders. General Rodes and General Early arrive and send word to Lee that they have engaged the Union troops, who continue to come in from the South. Lee cannot disengage. It would be bad for morale to disengage when the enemy is so close. With no other choice he orders his generals to attack. Meanwhile, Chamberlain's regiment gets orders to move northward toward Gettysburg.
             The first day's battle ends with the Unio...