during the american civil war, cashtown was occupied by the confederate states army twice. once in october 1862 when confederate cavalry led by general j.e.b. stuart occupied the town briefly. on june 28, 1863, general robert e. lee had invaded pennsylvania a second time and was on his way to harrisburg, pennsylvania, the state capital. when he received word that the union army of the potomac was coming, he ordered his divisions to assemble at cashtown. on june 30 confederate general henry heth had his divisions at cashtown and sent a division to nearby gettysburg to forage for supplies. without any reconnaissance to see what was ahead of them, the confederates into a union cavalry commanded by general john buford. this started the battle of gettysburg.