Henry Heth’s division opened the Battle of Gettysburg west of the town on July 1, 1863.
Heth commanded a division in Lieutenant General A. P. Hill’s Confederate Third Corps. Advancing from the west, his leading brigades moved along the Chambersburg Pike toward Gettysburg and encountered dismounted Union cavalry commanded by Brigadier General John Buford. The resulting clash became the opening major engagement of the battle.
Heth initially sent forward the brigades of James J. Archer and Joseph R. Davis. Buford’s cavalry resisted from behind fences and other cover, delaying the Confederate advance until Union I Corps infantry began arriving under Major General John F. Reynolds. Fighting then spread across McPherson Ridge and Herbst Woods, where Archer was captured and Reynolds was killed.
Heth’s division returned to the attack later that afternoon with its remaining brigades, including those led by J. Johnston Pettigrew and John M. Brockenbrough. Dorsey Pender’s division also joined the afternoon fighting, but it was Heth’s division that initiated the Confederate advance west of Gettysburg.