re: The Battle of Gettysburg - 157th Anniversary | Day Two - Prologue #1 | July 2, 1863

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I think Day 1 is highly underrated in importance. Buford's stand against the confederates was costly to the South.....he battered them giving the time for Meade to get his forces in place.

I think what is important would be to look at what happened in the last week of June.

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When you look at the big picture in that theater of the way, you have to ask yourself as to why Lee let his army get scattered around Pa. without his Calvary close at hand.

I think Lee counted on the North to be indecisive and slow to act. They were for an extent of time, but that didn’t last forever. Union Calvary found Lee first, they enabled the North to pick the site of the battle, and the rest is history.

You make a great point, and the OP has helped bring this out; you can’t really understand the battle without studying the run up to the battle.

Lee split his army in Maryland and was lucky to survive Antietam. He did a similar thing in Pa. and without Stuart. You would think he would have learned a lesson.