Which pike did Henry Heth's men follow east toward Gettysburg on July 1?

Henry Heth’s men followed the Chambersburg Pike east toward Gettysburg on July 1, 1863.

The road connected Gettysburg with Chambersburg and Cashtown to the west, the direction from which Heth’s Confederate division approached. Heth, serving under A. P. Hill in the Army of Northern Virginia’s Third Corps, advanced with brigades commanded by James J. Archer and Joseph R. Davis. They moved east in columns along the pike before encountering Union cavalry under John Buford.

The pike became a major axis of the opening battle. Union troopers used fences, terrain, and breech-loading carbines to delay the Confederate advance until infantry from the Union I Corps arrived. Fighting then spread across McPherson Ridge and Herbst Woods. The Taneytown Road, Emmitsburg Road, and Baltimore Pike were important Gettysburg-area routes, but they were not the road Heth’s initial force followed from the west.

Heth’s advance, reportedly undertaken partly in search of supplies, helped trigger the battle before Robert E. Lee’s army had fully concentrated.