The Project Gutenberg eBook ofGettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofGettysburg National Military Park, PennsylvaniaThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Gettysburg National Military Park, PennsylvaniaAuthor: Frederick TilbergRelease date: December 20, 2017 [eBook #56209]Most recently updated: October 23, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Gettysburg National Military Park, PennsylvaniaAuthor: Frederick TilbergRelease date: December 20, 2017 [eBook #56209]Most recently updated: October 23, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Title: Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania

Author: Frederick Tilberg

Release date: December 20, 2017 [eBook #56209]Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA ***

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR: March 3, 1849

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORStewart L. Udall,Secretary

NATIONAL PARK SERVICEConrad L. Wirth,Director

HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER NINE

This publication is one of a series of handbooks describing the historical and archeological areas in the National Park System, administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C. Price 25 cents

by Frederick Tilberg

Drum

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES No. 9WASHINGTON, D. C., 1954(Reprint 1961)

The National Park System, of which Gettysburg National Military Park is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of its people.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

The field of Pickett’s Charge, with his attack on the Union position at The Angle in the foreground.From the Philippoteaux painting in the Gettysburg Cyclorama.

Cannon

On the gently rolling farm lands surrounding the little town of Gettysburg, Pa., was fought one of the great decisive battles of American history. For 3 days, from July 1 to 3, 1863, a gigantic struggle between 75,000 Confederates and 88,000 Union troops raged about the town and left 51,000 casualties in its wake. Heroic deeds were numerous on both sides, climaxed by the famed Confederate assault on July 3 which has become known throughout the world as Pickett’s Charge. The Union victory gained on these fields ended the last Confederate invasion of the North and marked the beginning of a gradual decline in Southern military power.

Here also, a few months after the battle, Abraham Lincoln delivered his classic Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the national cemetery set apart as a burial ground for the soldiers who died in the conflict.

The situation in which the Confederacy found itself in the late spring of 1863 called for decisive action. The Union and Confederate armies had faced each other on the Rappahannock River, near Fredericksburg, Va., for 6 months. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Gen. R. E. Lee, had defeated the Union forces at Fredericksburg in December 1862 and again at Chancellorsville in May 1863, but the nature of the ground gave Lee little opportunity to follow up his advantage. When he began moving his army westward, on June 3, he hoped, at least, to draw his opponent away from the river to a more advantageous battleground. At most, he might carry the war into northern territory, where supplies could be taken from the enemy and a victory could be fully exploited. Even a fairly narrow margin of victory might enable Lee to capture one or more key cities and perhaps increase northern demands for a negotiated peace.

THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN

Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, Commander of the Union Forces at Gettysburg.Courtesy National Archives.

Gen. Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate Army at Gettysburg.Courtesy National Archives.

Confederate strategists had considered sending aid from Lee’s army to Vicksburg, which Grant was then besieging, or dispatching help to General Bragg for his campaign against Rosecrans in Tennessee. They concluded, however, that Vicksburg could hold out until climatic conditions would force Grant to withdraw, and they reasoned that the eastern campaign was more important than that of Tennessee.

Both Union and Confederate governments had bitter opponents at home. Southern generals, reading in Northern newspapers the clamors for peace, had reason to believe that their foe’s morale was fast weakening. They felt that the Army of Northern Virginia would continue to demonstrate its superiority over the Union Army of the Potomac and that the relief from constant campaigning on their own soil would have a happy effect on Southern spirit. Events were to prove, however, that the chief result of the intense alarm created by the invasion was to rally the populace to better support of the Union government.

Statue of General Meade, located on Cemetery Ridge.

The Virginia Memorial, surmounted by the statue of General Lee, on Seminary Ridge.

Gettysburg, as it appeared from Seminary Ridge a short time after the battle.(Brady photograph.)

Lee’s plan of campaign was undoubtedly similar to that of his invasion which ended in the battle of Antietam in September 1862. He then called attention to the need of destroying the bridge over the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg and of disabling the Pennsylvania Railroad in order to sever communication with the west. “After that,” he added, “I can turn my attention to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington as may seem best for our interest.”

Lee had suffered an irreparable loss at Chancellorsville when “Stonewall” Jackson was mortally wounded. Now reorganized into three infantry corps under Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and R. S. Ewell, and a cavalry division under J. E. B. Stuart, a changed Army of Northern Virginia faced the great test that lay ahead. “Stonewall” Jackson, the right hand of Lee, and in the words of the latter “the finest executive officer the sun ever shone on,” was no longer present to lead his corps in battle.

The long lines of gray started moving on June 3 from Fredericksburg, Va., first northwestward across the Blue Ridge, then northward in the Shenandoah Valley. On June 9, one of the greatest cavalry engagements of the war occurred at Brandy Station. Union horsemen, for the first time, held Stuart’s men on even terms. The Confederates then continued their march northward, with the right flank constantly protected by Stuart’s cavalry, which occupied the passes of the Blue Ridge. Stuart was ordered to hold these mountain gaps until the advance into Pennsylvania had drawn the Union Army north of the Potomac. On June 28, Hill and Longstreet reached Chambersburg, 16 miles north of the Pennsylvania boundary. Rodes’ division of Ewell’s corps reached Carlisle on June 27. Early’s command of 8,000 men had passed through Gettysburg on June 26 and on the 28th had reached York. Early planned to take possession of the bridge over the Susquehanna at Columbia, and to moveon Harrisburg from the east. Lee’s converging movement on Harrisburg seemed to be on the eve of success.

An unforeseen shift of events between June 25 and 28, however, threatened to deprive Lee of every advantage he had thus far gained in his daring march up the Shenandoah and Cumberland Valleys. The cavalry engagement between Stuart and Pleasonton at Brandy Station convinced Gen. Joseph Hooker, then in command of the Union Army, that the Confederate Army was moving northward. President Lincoln and General in Chief Halleck, informed of this movement, ordered Hooker to proceed northward and to keep his command between the Confederate Army and Washington. When he was refused permission to abandon Harpers Ferry, and to add the garrison of 10,000 men to his army, Hooker asked to be relieved of command. Gen. George G. Meade received orders to assume command of the army at Frederick, Md., on June 28, and he at once continued the march northward.

General Stuart, in command of the Confederate cavalry, had obtained conditional approval from Lee to operate against the rear of the Union Army as it marched northward and then to join Lee north of the Potomac. As he passed between Hooker’s army and Washington, the unexpected speed of the Union Army forced Stuart into detours and delays, so that on June 28 he was in eastern Maryland, wholly out of touch with the Confederate force. The eyes and ears of Lee were thus closed at a time when their efficient functioning was badly needed.

“Old Dorm” of Pennsylvania(now Gettysburg)College. It was used as a shelter for wounded.474-574 O-58—2

In this state of affairs, a Confederate agent reported to Lee at Chambersburg, Pa., on the night of June 28, that the Union forces had crossed the Potomac and were in the vicinity of Frederick. With the entire Union Army close at hand and with many miles between him and his base, Lee decided to abandon his original plan and to concentrate for battle. He moved his army at once across the mountains to Cashtown, 8 miles from Gettysburg. Here, in Cashtown Pass, he planned to establish his battle position. Rodes, then at Carlisle, and Early, at York, were at once ordered to this point.

The men of Heth’s division, leading the Confederate advance across the mountain, reached Cashtown on June 29. Pettigrew’s brigade was sent on to Gettysburg the following day to obtain supplies, but upon reaching the ridge a mile west of the town, they observed Union cavalry scouts posted along the roads. Not having orders to bring on an engagement, Pettigrew withdrew to Cashtown.

Scene of the initial engagement on the morning of July 1. 1. McPherson Ridge. 2. Oak Ridge.

In the intervening 2 days since he had assumed command of the Union forces, General Meade had moved his troops northward and instructed his engineers to survey a defensive battle position at Pipe Creek, near Taneytown, in northern Maryland. Buford’s cavalry, which had effectively shadowed Lee’s advance from the mountaintops of the Blue Ridge was ordered to make a reconnaissance in the Gettysburg area. It wasthese troops that Pettigrew’s men saw posted on the roads leading into the town. Neither Lee nor Meade yet foresaw Gettysburg as a field of battle. Each expected to take a strong defensive position and force his adversary to attack.

Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds.(Courtesy National Archives.)

Lt. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill.(Courtesy National Archives.)

A. P. Hill, in the absence of Lee, who was still beyond the mountains, now took the initiative. At daybreak of July 1, he ordered the brigades of Archer and Davis, of Heth’s division, to advance along the Chambersburg Road to Gettysburg for the purpose of testing the strength of the Union forces. As these troops reached Marsh Creek, 4 miles from Gettysburg, they were fired upon by Union cavalry pickets who hurriedly retired to inform their commander of the enemy’s approach. In the meantime, Buford’s division of cavalry had moved from their camp just southwest of Gettysburg to McPherson Ridge, a mile west of the town. Buford prepared to hold out against heavy odds until aid arrived. Thus, subordinate field commanders had chosen the ground for battle.

It was 8 a. m., July 1, when the two brigades of Archer and Davis, the former to the right and the latter to the left of the Chambersburg Road, deployed on Herr Ridge. Supported by Pegram’s artillery, they charged down the long slope and across Willoughby Run against Buford’s men. The Union troopers had recently received an issue of Spencer repeating carbines. Dismounted, and fighting as infantrymen, they held their ground against the spirited attacks of Heth’s superior numbers. At 10 o’clock timely aid arrived as troops from Gen. John F. Reynolds’ First Infantry corps began streaming over Seminary Ridge from the south and relieved Buford’s exhausted fighters. Calef’s battery, one of whose guns had fired the first shot at Gettysburg, was replaced by Hall’s Maine artillery. But, in a few moments, Union joy at receiving aid was offset by tragedy. Reynolds, close to the front lines, was killed instantly by a sharpshooter’s bullet.

The struggle increased in scope as more forces reached the field. When Archer’s Confederates renewed the attack across Willoughby Run, Union troops of Meredith’s Iron Brigade, arriving opportunely, struck the flank of the Confederates and captured the greater part of the force, including General Archer. Relieved from the threat south of the Chambersburg Pike, the 14th Brooklyn and 7th Wisconsin regiments shifted to the north of the Pike where the Confederates had captured a part of Cutler’s troops in the railroad cut. With renewed effort, these troops, joined by Dawes’ 6th Wisconsin, drove the Confederates steadily back, capturing two Mississippi regiments in the defile. The Confederates then withdrew beyond striking distance. There was a lull in the fighting during the noon hour. The first encounter had given Union men confidence. They had held their ground against superior numbers and had captured Archer, a brigadier general, the first Confederate general officer taken since Lee assumed command.

McPherson Ridge and Woods, the Federal position on July 1. In the woods at the right, General Reynolds was killed. The cupola of the Theological Seminary appears in the background.(Brady photograph.)

While the initial test of strength was being determined west of Gettysburg by advance units, the main bulk of the two armies was pounding over the roads from the north and south, converging upon the ground chosen by Buford. Rodes’ Confederates, hurrying southward from Carlisle to meet Lee at Cashtown, received orders at Biglerville to march to Gettysburg. Early, returning from York withCashtown as his objective, learned at Heidlersburg of the action at Gettysburg and was ordered to approach by way of the Harrisburg Road.

Chambersburg Pike, looking westward from the Federal position toward Herr Ridge, where the Confederate attack began.

Employing the wooded ridge as a screen from Union cavalry north of Gettysburg, Rodes brought his guns into position on Oak Ridge about 1 o’clock and opened fire on the flank of Gen. Abner Doubleday, Reynolds’ successor, on McPherson Ridge. The Union commander shifted his lines northeastward to Oak Ridge and the Mummasburg Road to meet the new attack. Rodes’ Confederates struck the Union positions at the stone wall on the ridge, but the attack was not well coordinated and resulted in failure. Iverson’s brigade was nearly annihilated as it made a left wheel to strike from the west. In the meantime, more Union troops had arrived on the field by way of the Taneytown Road. Two divisions of Howard’s Eleventh corps were now taking position in the plain north of the town, intending to make contact with Doubleday’s troops on Oak Ridge.

Doles’ Confederate brigade charged across the plain and was able to force Howard’s troops back temporarily, but it was the opportune approach of Early’s division from the northeast on the Harrisburg Road which rendered the Union position north of Gettysburg indefensible. Arriving in the early afternoon as the Union men were establishing their position, Early struck with tremendous force, first with his artillery and then with his infantry, against General Barlow. Soon he had shattered the entire Union force. The remnants broke and turned southward through Gettysburg in the direction of Cemetery Hill. In this headlongand disorganized flight General Schimmelfenning was lost from his command, and, finding refuge in a shed, he lay 2 days concealed within the Confederate lines. In the path of Early’s onslaught lay the youthful Brigadier Barlow severely wounded, and the gallant Lieut. Bayard Wilkeson, whose battery had long stood against overwhelming odds, mortally wounded.

Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell.Courtesy National Archives.

Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock.Courtesy National Archives.

The Union men on Oak Ridge, faced with the danger that Doles would cut off their line of retreat, gave way and retired through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill. The withdrawal of the Union troops from the north and northwest left the Union position on McPherson Ridge untenable. Early in the afternoon, when Rodes opened fire from Oak Hill, Heth had renewed his thrust along the Chambersburg Pike. His troops were soon relieved and Pender’s division, striking north and south of the road, broke the Union line. The Union troops first withdrew to Seminary Ridge, then across the fields to Cemetery Hill. Here was advantageous ground which had been selected as a rallying point if the men were forced to relinquish the ground west and north of the town. Thus, by 5 o’clock, the remnants of the Union forces (some 6,000 out of the 18,000 engaged in the first day’s struggle) were on the hills south of Gettysburg.

Ewell was now in possession of the town, and he extended his line from the streets eastward to Rock Creek. Studiously observing the hills in his front, he came within range of a Union sharpshooter, for suddenly he heard the thud of a minie ball. Calmly riding on, he remarked to General Gordon at his side, “You see how much better fixed for a fight I am than you are. It don’t hurt at all to be shot in a wooden leg.”

A momentous decision now had to be made. Lee had reached the field at 3 p. m., and had witnessed the retreat of the disorganized Uniontroops through the streets of Gettysburg. Through his glasses he had watched their attempt to reestablish their lines on Cemetery Hill. Sensing his advantage and a great opportunity, he sent orders to Ewell by a staff officer to “press those people” and secure the hill (Cemetery Hill) if possible. However, two of Ewell’s divisions, those of Rodes and Early, had been heavily engaged throughout the afternoon and were not well in hand. Johnson’s division could not reach the field until late in the evening, and the reconnaissance service of Stuart’s cavalry was not yet available. General Ewell, uninformed of the Union strength in the rear of the hills south of Gettysburg, decided to await the arrival of Johnson’s division. Cemetery Hill was not attacked, and Johnson, coming up late in the evening, stopped at the base of Culp’s Hill. Thus passed Lee’s opportunity of July 1.

Scene north of Gettysburg from Oak Ridge. The Federal position may be seen near the edge of the open fields in the middle distance.

When the Union troops retreated from the battleground north and west of the town on the evening of July 1, they hastily occupied defense positions on Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill, and a part of Cemetery Ridge. Upon the arrival of Slocum by the Baltimore Pike and Sickles by way of the Emmitsburg Road, the Union right flank at Culp’s Hill and Spangler’s Spring and the important position at Little Round Top on the left were consolidated. Thus was developed a strong defensive battle line in the shape of a fish hook, about 3 miles long, with the advantage of high ground and of interior lines. Opposite, in a semicircle about 6 miles long, extending down Seminary Ridge and into the streets ofGettysburg, stood the Confederates who, during the night, had closed in from the north and west.

The greater part of the citizenry of Gettysburg, despite the prospect of battle in their own yards, chose to remain in their homes. Both army commanders respected noncombatant rights to a marked degree. Thus, in contrast with the fields of carnage all about the village, life and property of the civilian population remained unharmed, while the doors of churches, schools, and homes were opened for the care of the wounded.

General Meade, at Taneytown, had learned early in the afternoon of July 1 that a battle was developing and that Reynolds had been killed. A large part of his army was within 5 miles of Gettysburg. Meade then sent General Hancock to study and report on the situation. Hancock reached the field just as the Union troops were falling back to Cemetery Hill. He helped to rally the troops and left at 6 o’clock to report to Meade that in his opinion the battle should be fought at Gettysburg. Meade acted on this recommendation and immediately ordered the concentration of the Union forces at that place. Meade himself arrived near midnight on July 1.

Spangler’s Spring, the right of the Federal battle line of July 2 and 3. This view, made in 1870, shows the wartime appearance of the spring.(Tipton photograph.)

View of Culp’s Hill, taken about 1890, showing earthworks on the crest of the hill. Gettysburg, one-half mile northwest, may be seen through the vista.(Tipton photograph.)

The small college town of Gettysburg, with 2,400 residents at the time of the battle, lay in the heart of a fertile country, surrounded by broad acres of crops and pastures. Substantial houses of industrious Pennsylvania farmers dotted the countryside. South of the town and hardly more than a musket shot from the houses on its outer edge, Cemetery Hill rose somewhat abruptly from the lower ground. Extending southward from the hill for nearly 2 miles was a long roll of land called Cemetery Ridge. At its southern extremitya sharp incline terminated in the wooded crest of Little Round Top and a half mile beyond was the sugar-loaf peak of Big Round Top, the highest point in the vicinity of Gettysburg. Paralleling Cemetery Ridge, at an average distance of two-thirds of a mile to the west, lay Seminary Ridge, which derived its name from the Lutheran Seminary that stood upon its crest a half mile west of Gettysburg. In 1863, 10 roads radiated from Gettysburg, the one leading to Emmitsburg extending diagonally across the valley between Seminary and Cemetery Ridges.

Lunettes, or artillery defense works, on the crest of East Cemetery Hill. The entrance gateway to the public cemetery, which is still in use, appears in the background on the Baltimore Pike.(Brady photograph.)

Jennie Wade House, located on Baltimore street between the battle lines. Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed during the battle, was accidentally struck by a bullet which passed through a door of the house.

East Cemetery Hill, the objective of the Confederate charge on the evening of July 2.

By noon of July 2, the powerful forces of Meade and Lee were at hand, and battle on a tremendous scale was imminent. That part of the Union line extending from Cemetery Hill to Little Round Top was stronglyheld. Late in the forenoon, Sickles, commanding the Third Corps which lay north of Little Round Top, sent Berdan’s sharpshooters and some of the men of the 3rd Maine Regiment forward from the Emmitsburg Road to Pitzer’s Woods, a half mile to the west. As they reached the woods, a strong Confederate force fired upon them, and they hurriedly retired to inform their commander. To Sickles, the extension of the Confederate line southward meant that his left flank was endangered. He at once began moving forward to the advantageous high ground at the Peach Orchard, and by 3:30 p. m. his battle front extended from Devil’s Den northwestward to the Orchard and northward on the Emmitsburg Road. In this forward movement, the strong position on the crest of Little Round Top was left unoccupied. This was the situation when Meade finally turned his attention from his right flank at Culp’s Hill and Spangler’s Spring—the cause of his great concern throughout the forenoon—to review Sickles’ line.

Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren.Courtesy National Archives.

Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles.Courtesy National Archives.

Lee planned to attack, despite the advice of Longstreet who continually urged defensive battle. On July 2, Longstreet recommended that Lee swing around the Union left at Little Round Top, select a good position, and await attack. Lee observed that while the Union position was strong if held in sufficient numbers to utilize the advantage of interior lines, it presented grave difficulties to a weak defending force. A secure lodgment on the shank of the hook might render it possible to sever the Union Army and to deal with each unit separately. Not all of Meade’s force had reached the field, and Lee thought he had the opportunity of destroying his adversary in the process of concentration. He resolved to send Longstreet against the Federal left flank which he believed was then onlower Cemetery Ridge, while Ewell was to storm Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill.

Trostle farmhouse. Here the 9th Massachusetts battery, taking position in the yard, lost 80 out of 88 horses during the battle of July 2.(Brady photograph.)

In the execution of this plan, Longstreet was ordered to take position across the Emmitsburg Road and to attack what was thought to be the left flank of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. From his encampment on the Chambersburg Road, 3 miles west of Gettysburg, he started toward his objective, using Herr Ridge to conceal the movement from Union signalmen on Little Round Top. After marching to Black Horse Tavern on the Fairfield Road, he realized that his troops were in sight of the signal unit and at once began retracing his course. Employing the trees on Seminary Ridge as a screen, he marched southward again in Willoughby Run Valley, arriving in position on the Emmitsburg Road about 3:30 p. m. Immediately in front, and only 700 yards away, Longstreet saw Sickles’ batteries lined up in the Peach Orchard and on the Emmitsburg Road. Col. E. P. Alexander, commanding a battalion of Longstreet’s artillery, opened with full force against the Union guns. Longstreet could observe in the distance that Little Round Top was unoccupied. Law’s Alabama troops were directed at once to take the hill, and Robertson’s Texans were instructed to join in the charge.

Gen. G. K. Warren, Meade’s Chief of Engineers, having assisted Sickles in placing his line, now rode to the crest of Little Round Top and found the hill, “the key to the Union position,” unoccupied except by a signal station. Warren was informed bythe signalmen that they believed Confederate troops lay concealed on the wooded ridge a mile to the west. Smith’s New York battery, emplaced at Devil’s Den, immediately was ordered to fire a shot into these woods. The missile, crashing through the trees, caused a sudden stir of the Confederates “which by the gleam of the reflected sunlight on their bayonets, revealed their long lines outflanking the position.” Warren realized Longstreet would strike first at Little Round Top and he observed, too, the difficulty of shifting Sickles’ position from Devil’s Den to the hill.

The Wheatfield as it appeared in 1890. Little Round Top is in the background.(Tipton photograph.)

At this moment Warren noticed the approach of Union troops from the north and rode to meet them. They were Vincent’s and Weed’s brigades, leading Sykes’ corps from reserve position to the front. Intercepting these troops, Warren rushed them to Little Round Top. Law’s Alabama troops were starting to scale the south slope of the hill when Vincent’s men rushed to the attack. Weed’s brigade, following closely, drove over the crest and engaged Robertson’s Texans on the west slope. The arrival of Hazlett’s battery on the summit of the hill is thus described by an eyewitness: “The passage of the six guns through the roadless woods and amongst the rocks was marvelous. Under ordinary circumstances it would have been considered an impossible feat, but the eagerness of the men ... brought them without delay to the very summit, where they went immediately into battle.” A desperate hand-to-handstruggle ensued. Weed and Hazlett were killed, and Vincent was mortally wounded—all young soldiers of great promise.

The struggle at Little Round Top now became stalemated, and Longstreet directed his entire line to attack. The Confederate drive was taken up in turn by the brigades of Benning, Anderson, Kershaw, Semmes, Barksdale, Wofford, Wilcox, Perry, and Wright against the divisions of Birney and Humphreys in the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard, and along the Emmitsburg Road. Four hours of desperate fighting broke the Peach Orchard salient, an angle in the Union line which was struck from the south and the west. It left the Wheatfield strewn with dead and wounded, and the base of Little Round Top a shambles. Sickles’ men had been driven back, and Longstreet was now in possession of the west slope of Big Round Top, of Devil’s Den, and the Peach Orchard. Little Round Top, that commanding landmark from which Longstreet had hoped to shell the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill, still remained in Union possession.

In the Confederate plan, Ewell on the left was directed to attack Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill in conjunction with Longstreet’s drive. At the appointed time, the guns of Latimer’s battalion on Benner’s Hill, east of Gettysburg, opened a well-directed fire against the Union positions on East Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill, but the return fire soon shattered many of Latimer’s batteries and forced the remnants to retire out of range. In the final moments of this action the youthful Major Latimer was mortally wounded.

View of Little Round Top taken soon after the battle. The crest and western slope of the hill had been cleared the year preceding the battle.(Brady photograph.)

Breastworks constructed by Federal troops on Little Round Top.

About dusk, long after the artillery fire had ceased, Early’s infantry started a charge toward East Cemetery Hill. Seldom, if ever, surpassed in its dash and desperation, Early’s assault reached the crest of the hill where the defenders, as a last resort in the hand-to-hand encounter, used clubbed muskets, stones, and rammers. Long after dark, the Louisiana Tigers and their comrades, in possession of the crest of the hill, fought to hold their gain and their captured guns. The failure of Rodes to move out of the streets of Gettysburg and to attack the hill from the west enabled Hancock to shift some of his men to aid in repelling Early’s attacks. Faced by these Union reserves, Early’s men finally gave way about 10 o’clock and sullenly retired to their lines. The Union troops stood firm.

Closely timed with Early’s assault of East Cemetery Hill, Johnson’s division charged the Union works on Culp’s Hill. Failing to make headway, because of the steep incline and the strength of the Union positions, Johnson fell back across Rock Creek and started an attack on the southern slope of the hill. Here the Union works were thinly manned. An hour earlier, the divisions of Geary and Ruger had been called from those works to the aid of the Sickles line at the Peach Orchard. Johnson, finding the works weakly defended, took possession of them but did not press the attack farther. Only a few hundred yards away on the Baltimore Pike lay the Union supply trains. The failure of Confederate reconnaissance here again was critically important. Thus passed another opportunity to strike a hard blow at the Union Army.

Night brought an end to the bloody combat at East Cemetery Hill, but this was not the time for rest. What would Meade do? Would the Union Army remain in its established position and hold its lines at all costs? At midnight Meade sought the advice of his Council of War in the east room of his headquarters. The corps commanders—Gibbon, Williams, Sykes, Newton, Howard, Hancock, Sedgwick, and Slocum—without exception advised holding the positions established. Meade, approving, turned to the officer whose division held the Union center, and said, “Gibbon, if Lee attacks me tomorrow it will be on your front.”

Meade on the following morning began to fortify Cemetery Ridge by shifting all units that could be spared from the line at Culp’s Hill, and those in reserve at the Round Tops and on Cemetery Hill. General Hunt, Chief of Artillery, brought up reserve batteries to hold in readiness for replacement of front line guns. Throughout the forenoon of the third day, Meade not only developed a strong front at the stone walls on the crest of the ridge, but he also strengthened his reserve power to an extent which rendered the Union center almost impregnable.

Interior of breastworks on Little Round Top.(Brady photograph.)

Meanwhile, important movements were occurring elsewhere on the field. Ruger’s division and Lockwood’s brigade, which had been called from their lines on the south slope of Culp’s Hill the previous evening to help defend Sickles’ position at the Peach Orchard, were now countermarching, under cover of darkness, to reoccupy their ground. Geary,who had misunderstood orders and had marched down the Baltimore Pike, was also returning to his works. Ruger’s men, upon reaching the Pike, learned from scouts that their entrenchments south of Culp’s Hill and at Spangler’s Spring had been occupied by the Confederates. Ruger, resolving upon an attack at daybreak, organized his forces along the Pike. Powerful artillery units under Muhlenberg were brought into place along the road; Rigby’s Maryland battery was stationed on Power’s Hill, a prominent knoll a half mile to the south; and another battery was emplaced on McAllister Hill.

Lt. Gen. James Longstreet.Courtesy National Archives.

Col. Edward Porter Alexander.Courtesy National Archives.

As dawn broke on July 3, Union guns on the Baltimore Pike opened with a heavy cannonade on Johnson’s Confederates at Spangler’s Spring. The heavily wooded area about the Confederate lines prevented them from bringing guns into position to return the fire. Union skirmishers began streaming across the field toward the Confederate entrenchments. The full force of Ruger’s and Geary’s brigades followed closely. Throughout the forenoon the Union troops struck again and again.

It was about 10 o’clock that Ruger, believing that a flank attack might break the resistance of Johnson’s men, ordered Col. Silas Colgrove to strike the Confederate left flank near the spring. The troops of the 2d Massachusetts and the 19th Indiana regiments started across the swale from the cover of the woods on the little hill south of the spring. A withering fire slowed their pace, but they charged on, only to have their ranks decimated by the Confederates in strong positions back of a stone wall. Colonel Mudge, inspiring leader of the Massachusetts regiment, fell mortally wounded. Forced to fall back, the men soon learned their efforts had not been in vain. On Ruger’s and Geary’s front the Confederates were now giving way and soon had retired across Rock Creek, out of striking range. By 11 o’clock, the Union troops were again in possession of their earthworks; again they could quench their thirst in the cooling waters of the spring.

General Lee must have learned by mid-forenoon, after the long hours of struggle at Culp’s Hill and Spangler’s Spring, that his troops could not hold the Union works which they had occupied with so little effort the previous evening. He had seen, also, that in the tremendous battling during the preceding afternoon no important gains had been made at Little Round Top and its vicinity. Longstreet had gained the advantageous ridge at the Peach Orchard and had brought his batteries forward from Pitzer’s Woods to this high ground in preparation for a follow-up attack. Wright’s brigade, the last unit to move forward on July 2 in the echelon attack begun by General Law, had charged across the open fields at dusk and pierced the Union center just south of the copse of trees on Cemetery Ridge. Wright’s success could not be pressed to decisive advantage as the brigades on his left had not moved forward to his support, and he was forced to retire. Again, lack of coordination in attack was to count heavily against the Confederates.

The failure to make any pronounced headway on July 2 at Culp’s Hill and Little Round Top, and the momentary success of Wright on Cemetery Ridge, doubtless led Lee to believe that Meade’s flanks were strong and his center weak. A powerful drive at the center might pierce the enemy’s lines and fold them back. The shattered units might then be destroyed or captured at will. Such a charge across open fields and in the face of frontal and flank fire would, Lee well understood, be a gamble seldom undertaken. Longstreet strongly voiced his objection to such a move, insisting that “no 15,000 men ever arrayed for battle can take that position.”

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