Battle of Gettysburg
Neither Lee nor Meade intended a battle take place at Gettysburg and neither were there when the battle started. On June 30, 1863, Confederate General Henry Heth had a division at Cashtown, Pennsylvania, Lee's gathering place before moving on to Harrisburg. Heth sent his division to nearby Gettysburg to look for, as he later wrote in his report, "army supplies (shoes especially), and return the same day." This started the myth that the Battle of Gettysburg started over shoes. Heth did this without scouting ahead to see what was at Gettysburg. The job of scouting belonged to the Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart. But they had been gone for over a week. So, blind to what was ahead of them, his soldiers ran directly into a Union cavalry division commanded by General John Buford. This started the fighting even though Heth and other commanders were under orders from Lee not to start a battle. But, as each side brought in more troops, it became a full-scale battle. Lee started moving much of his army there. One of his goals was to fight the Union army and destroy it. Now, he would have to do it at Gettysburg.