1863
July 2
Little Round Top
Little Round Top is the smaller of two hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, between the Emmitsburg and Taneytown roads. On the second day of the Battle Of Gettysburg, it became a critical position during General Robert E. Lee's flank attacks against Major General George Gordon Meade's Union position atop Cemetery Ridge. The Union left flank was preserved by an ad hoc collection of troops sent by Chief Engineer Gouverneur K. Warren that arrived just minutes before Confederates of Major General John Bell Hood's division. The hill only became known as Little Round Top well after the battle was fought. At the time of the Battle Of Gettysburg, it was known locally by various names including Sugar Loaf. The higher peak nearby was known as Round Top at the time of the battle.
Robert E. Lee's flank attack plan in the southern part of the Gettysburg battlefield called for the divisions of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's corps to attack obliquely from the southwest along the Emmitsburg Road and roll up the Federal line. Longstreet, who had advocated maneuvering completely around the Union left before attacking, did not believe in the attack but followed his orders to the letter, despite repeated objections from his subordinates. His men were tired when they reached the jumping-off point for the attack, having had to march and sometimes countermarch for several hours.
They were surprised to find Federals in front of them at the beginning of the assault, where none had been reported. Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles had moved his Union III Corps about three-quarter mile in advance of the Union line, to take up position in a wheatfield, a peach orchard, and around a tumbled mass of huge boulders known as Devil's Den.
Hood's division, at the right end of Longstreet's corps, began the attack around 4:00 p.m. Brigadier General Evander Law, whose brigade formed the far right of Hood's division, disobeyed orders and attacked straight ahead instead of on the oblique, to avoid being enfiladed by fire from Devil's Den. While most of Law's men engaged Federals around Devil's Den, he sent two regiments under Colonel William Oates looping right to chase some members of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters off (Big) Round Top. Oates succeeded, though not without sustaining casualties from the Sharpshooters' accurate fire.
Maneuvering around boulders and through thick underbrush, his men finally reached the summit, and Oates could see the entire Federal line. He could also see about a half mile away, the summit of Little Round Top, which was about 100 feet lower than where he stood. Unlike the heavily wooded Big Round Top, much of the trees on Little Round Top had been cut down months earlier. He could plainly see that only a handful of men from the Union Signal Corps were on the hill.
Receiving orders to take Little Round Top, Oates had his tired men work their way down to the valley between the two hills, where they were joined by a regiment of their fellow Alabamians and two from Texas. The newcomers had fought their way through the fringe of Devil's Den, where heavy fighting continued. The five regiments began ascending Little Round Top, with 4th Texas on the left, then 5th Texas, 4th Alabama, 47th Alabama, and on the right flank the 15th Alabama. Two-thirds of the way to the summit, they were met with volleys of rifle and cannon fire.
Meade's chief engineer, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, had discovered the Federal flank lay wide open. He sent word for troops, and Col. Strong Vincent answered with a brigade from the 1st Division of the V Corps.
Vincent's men took up a position downslope on the far side of the crest along a ledge. From left to right, the regiments were the 20th Maine, 83rd Pennsylvania, 44th New York and 16th Michigan. They were supported on their right by 10-pound Parrott rifles of 1st Lt. Charles Hazlett's battery. The Federals got into position 15 minutes before the Alabama and Texas troops arrived. The Confederates, rocked by the initial volleys, responded with their own fire. A bullet struck Colonel Vincent fatally; reportedly, his last command was, "Don't give an inch."
The 140th New York Regiment from Brig. Gen. Stephen Weed's brigade arrived, sent by Warren to reinforce the Union position. Its commander, Col. Patrick O' Rorke was killed almost instantly. Soon, Weed's other three regiments—146th New York, 91st and 155th Pennsylvania—joined the defenders on Little Round Top. Weed himself, standing near one of Hazlett's guns, was killed by a shot to the head, reportedly from a Confederate sharpshooter in Devil's Den below. Lieutenant Hazlett too fell dead, also reportedly the victim of a Devil's Den sharpshooter.
The Federals had rapidly deployed some 3,000 infantry and Hazlett's gunners to oppose five Southern regiments that had totaled around 2,400 when the day begun.
The two sides kept up a galling fire and made repeated charges and countercharges. Perhaps the most critical point of the Union line was the extreme left, held by less than 360 men of the 20th Maine Regiment under Col. Joshua Chamberlain, a former minister and professor. If they gave way, the Federals would be outflanked. Opposing them were nearly 650 Confederates of the 47th and 15th Alabama. When his men ran low on ammunition Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge. Whether he conceived the idea himself or it came from 1st Lt. Holman S. Melcher, the charge successfully broke up a flanking attempt by the 15th Alabama and drove them back, whereupon Company B of the 20th Maine and members of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters, concealed behind a stone wall, opened fire, finishing the Alabamians' attacks for the day.
Fighting on the far side of the line had been equally intense. The Texans had nearly broken through the 16th Michigan, but the timely arrival of the 140th New York saved the Union right on the hill.
Around 6:30 p.m. Oates ordered all regiments to withdraw. The 15th Alabama had lost nearly half of its 520 men. The Texans lost all officers except Maj. J. C. Rogers. Officer casualties were heavy on both sides and included Col. Oates' brother, Lieutenant John Oates, killed while attacking the 20th Maine.
The fight for Little Round Top was over, but farther north along the Emmitsburg Road brutal battles were being fought in the Wheatfield and the Peach Orchard.