The Battle of Gettysburg - 157th Anniversary | Day Two - Hood's Attack (1) | July 2, 1863

THE FIRST HERO OF JULY 2

Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren was the chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac. On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, Warren accompanied his commanding officer to the Trostle Farm where Meade would dress down Sickles for disobeying orders. However, before the party had reached Sickles’s headquarters, Meade turned to Warren and told him to attend to whatever situation might be developing around “yonder hill.” The hill Meade was referring to was Little Round Top but at this point in its history it had yet to be given a name.

Warren rode up to the summit of the hill and discovered there was no one on it, save for a signal flag station that was in the process of packing up and vacating the area. Warren ordered them to remain and trained his field glasses on the distant tree line running across Warfield Ridge to the south and west. He thought he had seen movement. Eying a battery of artillery sitting atop what looked to him to be a farm of gigantic boulders (this was Devil’s Den) he sent word down to the battery’s commander to fire a round over the tree line roughly one mile distant.

The 4th New York Independent Battery of Captain James Smith fired a round as ordered and Warren watched the tree line through his field glasses. To his horror the glint of what seemed to be thousands of bayonets could clearly be seen in the trees across the way. A sizable Confederate force was on the left flank of the Union army and there very little in the way of defense.

Warren sent a courier with explicit instructions to bring the first soldiers he could to this position. It was now a race against time as Warren could see the Confederate infantry emerging from the trees, the distant high-pitched Rebel Yell clearly audible to him. It was 4:30 PM and the Confederate artillery barrage of Sickles’s position was just now beginning. The deafening roar of the guns was magnified by the geography of the landscape. Ear drums popped and blood ran out of the ears due to the intense nature of the sound.

Warren’s courier happened upon a brigade under the command of Colonel Strong Vincent. Seeing the courier somewhat panicked, Vincent halted him and asked what his orders were. When the courier told him that General Warren required defenders on Little Round Top, Vincent did not hesitate. He ordered his brigade to make a double time march to the hill. Time was now of the essence.

Warren’s timely appraisal of the situation had allowed for Union reinforcements to be summoned to Little Round Top just when they were needed. Lost in the shuffle of the ensuing fight for the hill are the actions of the man who made it possible. For that, G.K. Warren is the first hero of July 2, 1863.

But the first hammer to fall would not be on Little Round Top. The initial blow would be aimed at Devil’s Den where a simile of hell would engulf the area.

DEVIL’S DEN – PART ONE

As the Confederate infantry advanced from Warfield Ridge toward the extreme left of the Union line, Hood was out in front, urging his men on and leading by example. Whatever plan he might have had for them that day as the situation unfolded once contact was made we will never know. Because as he and his men approached the rocks of Devil’s Den a shell fired from one of Smith’s guns exploded overhead and sent shrapnel raining down on Hood. He was severely wounded and had to leave the field. Command passed to Evander Law but would never truly be exercised by him. For the remainder of the battle, Hood’s division would essentially be leaderless.

Positioned in Devil’s Den was the brigade of Brigadier General John Hobart Ward of Major General David B. Birney’s division. His men were arranged on a stretch of high ground known locally as Houck’s Ridge. The 1st Texas and 3rd Arkansas of Brigadier General Jerome Robertson attacked Ward straight on through Rose Woods and the Triangular Field. The 44th and 48th Alabama of Law’s brigade would strike the extreme left of Ward’s position held by the 4th Maine.

The fight in Devil’s Den and along Houck’s Ridge was particularly brutal as both sides fought standing up for the better part of an hour. The 20th Indiana would lose over half of its men in the battle’s first 30 minutes and saw its commanding officer killed in action. The 86th New York likewise lost its commanding officer while the 3rd Arkansas’s colonel was one of just 182 casualties in his regiment. Meanwhile, on the left end of Ward’s position, the 124th New York and 4th Maine did battle with the 1st Texas as well as the 44th and 48th Alabama. The New Yorkers and Maine men also received back up from the 99th Pennsylvania.

The men of the 124th New York counter-attacked into the Triangular Field, pushing the 1st Texas back some 200 yards. In the attack, however, the 124th lost both its colonel and its executive officer. The Texans let loose a frightful volley and unleashed a counter-attack of their own that pushed the 124th New York back to its starting position less 183 men.

Nevertheless, Ward’s brigade was able to hold off these assaults to his left flank thanks to the actions of the 124th New York and the timely arrival of reinforcements from the 99th Pennsylvania. Just then, however, fighting behind and to the left of Ward’s position began erupting at Little Round Top.

LITTLE ROUND TOP

Colonel Strong Vincent’s brigade arrived just below the summit of Little Round top and took up a position facing south. His four regiments, from left to right, were the 20th Maine, 83rd Pennsylvania, 44th New York, and 16th Michigan. They arrived in the nick of time for the 4th and 47th Alabama of Law’s brigade and the 4th and 5th Texas of Robertson’s brigade were beginning their assault on the heights. The 47th Alabama hit right where the 20th Maine’s and 83rd Pennsylvania’s lines met and were driven back with the loss of their colonel. The other three Rebel regiments assailed the center of Vincent’s line. Meanwhile, the 15th Alabama took its time trying to find the far left of the Union position.

The 4th and 5th Texas applied pressure to the 16th Michigan on the right. Seeing that they were beginning to crumble, Vincent attempted to rally them but was mortally wounded in the process. He would die five days later. Just before the 16th Michigan totally collapsed, however, they were saved by the arrival of additional reinforcements summoned by Warren. The 140th New York, led by Colonel Patrick “Paddy” O’Rorke charged into the maelstrom of death and hit the Texans just as they looked triumphant. In the resulting melee, however, O’Rorke himself was killed. O’Rorke’s actions were worth it, however, as the Texans went scurrying back down the hill.

Meanwhile, on the back side of Little Round Top, Colonel William C. Oates and his 15th Alabama had hooked up with the 47th Alabama and had found the end of the Union line – held by Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain and the 20th Maine. The future Alabama governor and Spanish-American War general took command of both regiments and charged Chamberlain’s lines. The professor from Maine, however, would not budge and withstood repeated assaults that eventually resulted in brutal hand-to-hand fighting.

Running low on ammunition, Oates sent for help from the 4th Alabama but the orderly returned with news that no one was on their left but yankees. Realizing the situation was hopeless, Oates ordered a retreat. Just as the order was given, however, Chamberlain and the 20th Maine charged his lines with bayonets afixed, taking dozens of prisoners.

The Battle of Little Round Top was over. Union losses: 565 killed, wounded or missing; Confederate losses: 1,366 killed, wounded or missing.