PA -- Gettysburg Natl Battlefield -- Day 2 -- Misc battle sites:
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GET2_130929_009.JPG: The Bloody Wheatfield
-- July 2 1863 - Second Day --
"It was here that the crash came. A storm of lead swept through our ranks like hail."
-- Pvt. James Houghton, USA, 4th Michigan Infantry
In the summer of 1863, the golden wheat grew tall here. But at 4:30 p.m. on July 2, the Wheatfield was transformed into a whirlpool of death. Over a period of 2-1/2 hours this ground changed hands six times as Confederates of Longstreet's Corps attempted to smash the loosely-knit Union line.
The Confederate attackers came from your rear and left; Union reinforcements moved into the area from your front and right. In the various actions, soldiers found ready-made defenses at the stone wall behind you, and on the "stony hill" to your left. With each new attack, casualties mounted.
When the Union advance position at the Peach Orchard (1/2-mile northwest of here, to your left) collapsed about 6:30 p.m., Confederates began to surround the Wheatfield. The Federals fell back toward Cemetery Ridge, leaving pools of blood along their retreat route. By nightfall, the ravaged Wheatfield belonged to the Confederates.
Just before entering the desperate fight in the Wheatfield, Union soldiers of the Irish Brigade receive absolution from their sins. Father William Corby, their chaplain, commended their souls to God, and exhorted them not to turn their backs on the enemy. Maj. St. Clair Mulholland remembered the "awe-inspiring" scene. "I do not think there was a man in the brigade who did not offer up a heartfelt prayer. For some it was their last..."
Only a few yards from where you are standing, Col. Harrison H. Jeffords used his revolver to re-capture the colors of his 4th Michigan Regiment. A moment later a Confederate thrust a bayonet into his body, mortally wounding him.
GET2_130929_287.JPG: Bigelow's Desperate Stand
July 2, 1863 - Second Day
"...horses were plunging and laying all around.... The enemy were yelling like demons, yet my men kept up a rapid fire...."
-- Capt. John Bigelow, U.S.A., 9th Massachusetts Artillery
Here at the farm of Abraham Trostle on the afternoon of July 2, Capt. John Bigelow positioned the six cannon of his 9th Massachusetts Battery. Attacking Confederates who had driven Bigelow back from the Peach Orchard had him backed up against the stone wall to your right.
As Bigelow prepared to "limber up" and retreat again, his superior, Lt. Col. Freeman McGilvery, rode up with the order to hold the position "at all hazards" until a Union line could be established in the rear (to your right). Bigelow's gunners would have to face the Confederate onslaught without infantry support.
The cannoneers piled ammunition beside the guns for rapid loading. Soon Mississippians and South Carolinians crowded right up to the muzzles of the Union guns, only to be "blown away." When Confederate marksmen reached the farm buildings and began shooting cannoneers and their horses, Bigelow's men made their escape. The Confederates captured four cannon, but Bigelow had bought valuable time.
Sickles' Headquarters
Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, controversial commander of the Union Third Corps, established his headquarters beside the Trostle barn here. As Sickles' line began to collapse on the afternoon of July 2, a Confederate cannonball struck the general's right leg. A stretcher-bearer slowed the bleeding with a saddle-strap tourniquet. Army surgeons amputated the leg that night.
Although many believe Sickles nearly lost Gettysburg for the Union, he helped to save it in 1895 by introducing legislation establishing Gettysburg National Military Park.
These photos were taken from near this point on July 6, 1863, four days after the fighting. Horses that once pulled Bigelow's cannon lie rotting in the Trostle farmyard. Forty-five horses were killed. Note also the overturned limber to the right of the house. During the battle, a Confederate shell crashed into the gable of the Trostle barn; the hole can still be seen today.
GET2_130929_360.JPG: End of the Second Day
July 2, 1863 - Second Day
"The great Rebel assault, the greatest ever made upon this continent, had been made and signally repulsed...."
-- 1st Lt. Frank A. Haskell, U.S.A., Aide to Brig. Gen. John Gibbon.
When the Union position at the Peach Orchard (1/2 mile to your right) collapsed on the afternoon of July 2, a Confederate victory seemed imminent. The Union left was giving way. Wounded and retreating Federals streamed eastward (to your left) to seek field hospitals or lost regiments.
General Meade, the Union commander, rushed reinforcements to this area, hoping to prevent a rout. Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock directed the fresh Union troops to critical positions. Lt. Col. Freeman McGilvery assembled artillery batteries along the ridge to your left and right to impede the attackers. Near here Union marksmen shot down Confederate Brig. Gen. William Barksdale, the hard-driving Mississippian. The Confederate attack lost momentum.
The immediate crisis over, General Meade reassured his men, "...it is all right now." That night the Union army strengthened its line from the Round Tops north to Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill. The day's fighting had reaped a harvest of nearly 20,000 dead, wounded, and missing. The following day General Lee would attack once more.
You are now standing on United States Avenue looking south down the Plum Run Valley.
(1) Little Round Top
On the afternoon of July 2 Union troops reached this strategic high ground just in time to defend it from Longstreet's attacking Confederates.
(2) Big Round Top
On the afternoon of July 2 Confederates of Hood's Division occupied the summit, but were driven off that night by Union infantry. Big Round Top became the southern anchor of the Union line.
(3) Plum Run Valley
Also called "Valley of Death." On the night of July 2 Union troops occupied the high ground on the left side of the valley, opposed by Confederate skirmishers on the right sided. In the "no man's land" between the armies, the wounded cried for help in the dark.
Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford leads the Pennsylvania Reserves against attacking Confederates in the Plum Run Valley on the afternoon of July 2. Painting by Dale Gallon.
Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, commander of the Union Second Corps, helped stabilize the Union position here after the fall of the Peach Orchard line on July 2. On July 3, as his men repulsed Pickett's Charge, he was severely wounded. After the war, in 1880, he was nearly elected President of the United States losing the election to James A. Garfield.
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