Images from the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1, 1863) - 159 years ago today

Lt. Marcellus Jones of the 8th Illinois Cavalry fires the first shot of the battle three miles west of town.




On McPherson's Ridge, Brigadier General John Buford directs his cavalry troopers toward the sound of guns as Confederate infantry advance slowly down the Chambersburg Pike. The bottom photograph is what this area looks like in the present day.




John Buford's cavalry division make their last stand upon McPherson's Ridge just before reinforcements arrive from the south in the form of the Union First Corps. The bottom photograph is what this area looks like in the present day.




The 6th Wisconsin, 95th New York, and 84th New York (14th Brooklyn) charge the Unfinished Railroad Cut where soldiers (mostly Mississippians) from Brigadier General Joseph R. Davis's brigade take cover. The bottom photograph is what that area looks like today.




Soldiers of the 88th Pennsylvania, from Henry Baxter's brigade, take aim at the North Carolinians of Alfred Iverson's brigade as they advance across the no-man's-land between McPherson's Ridge and Oak Ridge. The bottom photograph is the same area in the present day.




At 3:30 in the afternoon, the main Confederate attack begins on McPherson's Ridge. The 149th Pennsylvania of Roy Stone's "Bucktail Brigade" desperately attempts to fend off attacks from the 32nd North Carolina. In the right of the picture, the 150th Pennsylvania can be seen taking on the advancing regiments of the 47th and 55th Virginia Infantry. The bottom photograph is what this area looks like today.




As the Union army collapses north and west of town, Confederate soldiers chase the retreating Federals through the city streets of Gettysburg. The bottom photograph is what that area looks like today.