Hooker now knew Lee's dispositions, but not the Gray Fox's intentions. The following day, one of Lee's corps began marching north, and Stuart's cavalry was tasked east of the Blue Ridge Mountains to keep the Federal cavalry at bay. Colonel William Gamble, badly wounded the previous August, rejoined the army and took command of the 1st Brigade of Buford's Division. The 2nd Brigade was commanded by Colonel Thomas Devin, known to his troopers as "Buford's Hard Hitter." The Reserve Brigade of Regulars, soon to be commanded by Wesley Merritt, joined the division. Merritt would jump from captain to brigadier general.

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As the Northern and Southern cavalry fought for control of the mountain passes, several small but important actions broke out in the ensuing two weeks, drawing nearly 20,000 troopers into an area less than 20 miles from Aldie, Va., to the Blue Ridge Mountains. On June 21, as the Union cavalry was hastening toward Ashby's Gap, the gateway to the Shenandoah Valley, J.E.B. Stuart was handed a rare battlefield defeat in a stirrup-to-stirrup brawl at Upperville, Va., that cost Buford 115 casualties. Despite that setback, Lee and Stuart were eventually able to meet their objectives. The Federals had been kept out of the mountain passes, and the Southern infantry was able to carry the war to the North.

As the Army of the Potomac paralleled Lee's advance, Buford and his exhausted riders crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry on June 27, guarding the left wing of the army. The following day they passed through Jefferson and then reached Middletown, Md. Upon breaking camp on June 29, Buford detached Merritt's brigade to Mechanicsville to guard his trains and picket the Catoctin Mountain passes—only Buford's 1st and 2nd Brigades would follow him to his destination, a small but important crossroads town across the border called Gettysburg.

That evening Buford's command, reinforced by Battery A of the 2nd U.S. Horse Artillery, reached South Mountain and crossed over it to camp near Fountaindale, Pa. His troopers were so exhausted that many tied their reins to their wrists and simply fell to the ground, making their beds where they landed. Here, with a spectacular view of the Keystone State farmlands and hills before him, Buford reportedly remarked, "Within 48 hours the concentration of both armies will take place on a field within view and a great battle will be fought." If true, Buford's prognosis was likely due more to experience than to any extrasensory powers—but he would find out within those 48 hours that he was correct.

Buford intended to march the 10 miles from Fairfield, Pa., to Gettysburg early the next morning, but hardly had his brigades begun moving when his plans went off course. Gamble's horsemen, leading the way, unexpectedly marched right into the pickets of two Mississippi regiments. Skirmishing broke out in the predawn fog, but Buford prudently stopped the fighting and countermarched back into Maryland so he could instead move to Gettysburg via Emmitsburg. About 11 a.m. on June 30, as Buford's column passed through fields soon to be immortalized as the site of Pickett's Charge, a Confederate unit was spotted just west of Gettysburg. Gamble sent a squadron to investigate, and the Southerners quickly withdrew toward Cashtown.

After deploying the two brigades to the west and north of Gettysburg, Buford sent pickets out several miles on all the roads, and interviewed local citizens. By the time the sun dropped beneath the South Mountain ridgeline, Buford was aware that all of Lee's army was no more than a day's march from his position. Whereas that morning his prediction of battle had encompassed some "field" within his view, he now could be more specific—Buford warned Devin and Gamble that night that he felt sure the enemy would "come booming in the morning."

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