McPherson Ridge McPherson Ridge is a landform used for military engagements during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg , First Day , when the I Corps ( Union Army ) had a headquarters on the ridge and was defeated by the Confederate division of Major General Henry Heth . The ridge has terrain above ~ and is almost entirely a federally protected area except for township portions at the southern end and along Pennsylvania Route 116 , including a PennDOT facility . The northern end is a slight topographic saddle point on the west edge of Oak Ridge , and summit areas above include 4 on / near the Lincoln Highway , a broader summit south of the Fairfield Road , and the larger plateau at the northern saddle . History . In 1747 , the Nichol ' s Gap Road ( later " Hagerstown Road " , now Fairfield Road ) was built over the ridge , followed by the road on the north that became the 1809 turnpike from Gettysburg to Black ' s Gap ( extended to Chambersburg in 1810 ) . In 1835 , Middle Ridge had the middle of three 1835 railway cut s ( cf . Herr Ridge & Seminary Ridge ) excavated for the Tapeworm Railroad . In the 1850s , the Old Mill Road across the ridge had been established northwest from the Hagerstown Road past the J . Herbst farm along Willoughby Run . During the 1858 Hopkins survey , the " H . Dustman " farm was on the ridge along the turnpike ' s south side and east of the " Toll Gate " , while along Willoughby Run on the ridge ' s west slope and north of the railway bed were the farms of " Heirs of Wm McPherson " & " J . B . McPherson " . After moving back to Gettysburg in 1856 , attorney Edward McPherson inherited a farm in 1858 which had by 1863 . On June 30 , 1863 , John Buford ' s Union cavalry camped east of the ridge prior to the Battle of Gettysburg . In 1869 , a " Horse Railway " was built over the ridge from the borough station , and in 1884 the steamtrain railroad was extended westward through the railway cut ( a 1902 plan to extend the electric trolley over the ridge was not implemented . ) A Pennsylvania bill passed in 1885 for the 1886 John F . Reynolds monument in Herbst Woods erected by " Post No . 9 , G . A . R . " In 1887 , Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association Director Edward McPherson acted as the agent for Samuel A . Whitney , who sold on the ridge for a GBMA avenue , and the 1887 " Iron Platt Truss Bridge " over the railway cut was built by the Gilbert and Smith Foundry for the " First Day ' s Avenue " . The ridge ' s modern name was used as early as 1892 — in Minnigh ' s " What They Did Here " ( " West Reynolds Avenue , McPherson Ridge " ) — and in a newspaper by The Sun for a 1913 Gettysburg reunion report . Gettysburg National Military Park . After the February 1895 " Sickles Gettysburg Park Bill " ( 28 Stat . 651 ) passed , John B . McPherson deeded to the United States in April , and the eminent domain decree of " United States v . Five Tracts of Land " on October 2 , 1900 , seized 3 " Reynolds Woods " tracts totalling . Stone Avenue was constructed in 1902 , and by 1904 Meredith Avenue was on part of the " Springs Hotel Avenue and [ former ] Horse Railroad " . On December 24 , 1904 , the Gettysburg National Military Park acquired on / near the ridge for $ 3 , 626 and in 1906 , part of Pennsylvania ' s Camp Henderson was on the ridge . In 1913 , the Chambersburg Turnpike was designated part of the original Lincoln Highway , and in 1927 the Hagerstown Road became Pennsylvania Route 51 ( Pennsylvania Route 116 in 1928 ) . The National Park Service replaced the commemorative era guide station on the pike with a Gettysburg Parkitecture entrance station ( " Lincolnway station " of Gettysburg Granite ) which opened on June 5 , 1937 ; and the 1903 bridge over the railway cut was replaced in 1958 for Mission 66 . A Battlefield America Guide about the ridge was published in 2002 , and monuments on the ridge were designated historic district contributing structure s in 2004 .