Less than two months after their victory at Chancellorsville, the Army of Northern Virginia surged northward. As part of Major General Jubal Anderson Early's Division of Ewell's Corps, Confederate Brigadier General John B. Gordon's Brigade arrived in Gettysburg on June 26, 1863. As the monument to your left reads, Union private George W. Sandoe of the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry "an advance scout of a company of volunteer cavalry", rode unknowingly in the direction of Gordon's men. Private Sandoe had served with the Cavalry for only a few days having enlisted less than a week earlier. Hidden behind brush and bushes, pickets from General Gordon's brigade spotted Sandoe and a companion, ordering them to halt. William Lightner, the fellow cavalryman riding with him, succeeded in turning his horse and racing down the Baltimore Pike to safety. Private Sandoe did not. His horse fell and as he tried to remount and ride off, a Southern soldier shot him in the head. [E]

According to the above monument, Private George Washington Sandoe then became "the first Union soldier killed at Gettysburg". Private Sandoe emerged as one of over 20,000 Union casualties stemming from what would become the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle ever on the North American continent. However, 1st New York Cavalry Corporal William Rihl in reality had the sad distinction of becoming the first Union casualty to fall on Pennsylvania soil when, days earlier, he came into contact with some of Lee's advanced troopers. Corporal Rihl died during a skirmish with CSA Brigadier General Albert Jenkins' Cavalry on June 22, 1863 just north of Greencastle Pennsylvania about 30 miles west of Gettysburg. The monument pictured here, dedicated to his memory, reads, "A Humble but Brave Defender of the Union".