About ten in the morning
The great guns were sent away next day on their errands of destruction . Then the two lonely women waited as the whole country waited for news which whatever it might be would carry grief to countless homes . On the second day of July , 1863 , under a heavy cloud of dust which hung high in air over the approach of the Baltimore Pike to Gettysburg , the long column of the reserve artillery of the Potomac army rumbled along the road , and more and more clearly the weary men heard the sound of cannon . About ten in the morning the advance guard was checked and the line came to a halt . James Penhallow , who since dawn had been urging on his command , rode in haste along the side of the cumbered road to where a hurrying brigade of infantry crossing his way explained why his guns were thus brought to a standstill . He saw that he must wait for the foot soldiers to go by . The cannoneers dismounted from the horses or dropped off the caissons , and glad of a rest lit their pipes and lay down or wandered about in search of water .