The encounter near the quiet hamlet of Gettysburg determined the choice of ground on which the success or failure of Lee's 1863 invasion of the North would be decided. Hour-by-hour battle accounts, enlivened by tales of individual acts of courage, tell of command decisions that committed the I and XI Corps to a forward defence of the terrain north and west of Gettysburg in an effort to delay the Confederate convergence on the strategic crossroads. The accomplishments of the Federal I and XI Corps emboldened General George Meade to hold the ground and offer battle. No one knew that two more days of desperate conflict lay ahead.