Gettysburg First Shot Marker

This is a picture of where the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg is believed to have been fired.  However, there are multiple units that claim to have been the first.  This monument to me seems to be the most accurate as the Confederates would have been coming up this road first.  On July 1st, 1863, approximately where this marker is placed, Captain Jones of the 8th Illinois Cavalry fired at a column of Confederates.  He had taken the Sharp’s Carbine from Sergeant Shafer as they were on picket duty that day.  The shot was reported as a miss, but nevertheless it was the first fired in the bloodiest American battle of all time.  The Battle of Gettysburg along with the Siege of Vicksburg, which was happening at the same time, can be seen as the turning point of the Civil War.  After Gettysburg, the Confederate army would not regain the strength to invade the North again.  This marker is located about a mile or two down the road from where the first cannon round of the battle was fired.  The men who placed the marker were from the original 8th Illinois Cavalry and they rode in a train car with it for the entire journey.