Source: Library of Congress
Source: Library
of Congress
The second day at Gettysburg was the bloodiest of the three-day battle--over half of the casualties were taken on 2 July. There were two major actions taking place at opposite ends of the Union lines. On the Federal left, at about 4 PM, two of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's I Corps divisions, under the commands of Maj. Gens. John Bell Hood and Lafayette McLaws, and Maj. Gen. R. H. Anderson's division from Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill's III Corps, assaulted Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles' III Corps and Maj. Gen. George Sykes' V Corps. Longstreet had planned for his attack to be en echelon, meaning that his divisions would not attack all together but rather sequentially from right to left with Hood's division striking the Sykes corps first in the area around the Round Tops, the Devil's Den, and the Wheatfield, after which McLaw's division would strike at Sickles corps which had moved forward without orders into the Peach Orchard. The Federal troops were pushed back from their initial positions but, at the end of the day, the line from Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge held.
Above is a photograph of Little Round Top taken from the area of the Devil's Den shortly after the battle. For a recent view of Little Round Top click here.
Using the links below, you can learn something about this part of the Battle of Gettysburg and the men who led the troops taking part in it.
BATTLE LINKS
My
Civil War Monument Project
The Artillery at Gettysburg
See the National Tower fall
See a map of the battle lines
on 1-3 July.
Comments? Send mail to Peter
Schwartz
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Peter Schwartz's HomePage |
Go to the VMI Civil War Archives |
Go to the American Civil War Homepage |
Gettysburg: Unofficial Guide |
Visit Sharpsburg/Antietam |
Cemetery Hill |
Gettysburg Nat'l Park |
Check my Zulu War HomePage.Created 20 MAY 1996; Revised 09 JUN 2004
http://schwartz.eng.auburn.edu/ACW/lrt.html
