MARCHING AND COUNTERMARCHING

To say James Longstreet’s heart was not in the attack Lee had ordered him to undertake would be something of an understatement. After the Battle of Fredericksburg back in December, Longstreet had become a big believer in the art of defensive warfare in this new conflict. He felt very strongly the Union position was too strong to overcome on July 2. But that’s not to say he wouldn’t do his duty. He was a soldier first and foremost and while he was not happy with the orders he had been given, he would obey them to the utmost.

First, however, Longstreet would push Lee to delay the start time of the attack until Brigadier General Evander Law’s Alabama brigade had arrived on the field. They were the last of Hood’s division to arrive that morning. Once they were with the army, Longstreet began his long and circuitous march to get on the flank of the Union army.

The column departed from Herr Ridge west of Gettysburg and traversed backroads that kept themselves out of sight of the Union army. However, the flanking column came in very real danger of being spotted by a Union signal station on Little Round Top. In order to avoid being seen, the column would have to counter-march back the way they came and find another road that kept them out of sight of the men atop the heights. This movement cost the Confederates considerable because Longstreet didn’t want to mix up the attack order. Instead of just ordering an about face of the whole column he had the front of the column snake its way around the back of the column to continue the march.

It wasn’t until 4:00 PM that the Confederates of Longstreet’s First Corps had reached their jump off point. And what greeted them was a sight none of them expected to see. The Union left was not where it was supposed to be. In fact, it looked as the extreme left flank had advanced out ahead of the rest of the Union army for whatever reason. Because of this the attacking Confederates would have to alter the plan away from how Lee originally intended it.

Instead of a simultaneous, northeasterly push by both divisions, Hood and McLaws would be forced to attack in a more easterly direction. The attacks would also be made en echelon instead of everyone going forward at the same time.

SICKLES’S FOLLY

Around the time Longstreet’s divisions were being put into line behind the trees on Seminary Ridge, Meade finally found out about Sickles’s decision to advance the Third Corps forward without orders. Meade got onto his horse, told a few select members of his staff to follow him, and headed out to the Trostle Farm where Sickles had headquartered himself. Meade was well-known for his fiery temper but now that he was the commanding general he tried (at first) to play it cool.

The discussion was calm at first but the more Sickles tried to explain his actions, the more Meade became perturbed. Finally, Meade exploded on his subordinate: “General Sickles! This is neutral ground! Our guns command it, as well as the enemy’s! The very reason you cannot hold it applies to them!”

Sickles asked Meade if he wanted him to withdraw back to his original position. It was too late for that. Confederate cannon were in the process of being wheeled out of the trees on Seminary Ridge and were being made ready to fire on the Third Corps. Meade knew that an attack was imminent and the only thing he could do was support Sickles with everything the Army of the Potomac had at its immediate disposal. He remounted his horse and began to leave the area when Sickles once again asked Meade if he wanted the Third Corps to return to its original position.

Just then the 36 guns of Longstreet’s artillery arm opened up on Sickles’s position. Hot lead exploded in the air and shells began to impact the ground all around them. Meade calmly replied: “I wish you could. But he won’t let you!” Meade pointed toward the Confederate lines with this last sentence before he galloped off to order reinforcements to the left end of his line. It was 4:30 PM.

“TO THE HEIGHTS!”

The artillery barrage, overseen by Colonel Porter Alexander, lasted for 30 minutes and targeted the exposed positions of the Third Corps. The men in the Peach Orchard were especially impacted as the distance between the Union lines and the Confederate artillery was just 500 yards in places. Shells exploded all around the boys in blue as they hunkered down in the dirt waiting for the barrage to be over and for the Confederate attack to come forward.

At the far right end of the Confederate line, Major General John B. Hood stood in his stirrups with saber out and waving over his head. His horse pranced in front of Hood’s old Texas brigade and he cheered his former unit on with an uplifting speech that set the tone for the attack that was about to commence: “Fix bayonets, my brave Texans! Forward and take those heights!”

The Rebel Yell reverberated throughout the valley as 14,000 Confederates prepared to step off and begin the most brutal and savage three hours in American military history….