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East Cemetery Hill
July 2, 1863 - Second Day
"The enemy stood with a tenacity never before displayed by them, but with bayonet, clubbed musket, sword and pistol, and rocks from the wall, we cleared the heights and silenced the guns."
-- Maj. Samuel McD. Tate, C.S.A., 6th North Carolina Infantry
About dusk on July 2, two Confederate infantry brigades of Early's Division appeared in line of battle on the rolling pastures below you to the right. Their objective was East Cemetery Hill, 1/4 mile in front of you. Union cannon here and on the hill raked them with shell, shrapnel, and canister, but they pressed on under the cover of smoke and falling night.
Union troops waiting behind stone walls at the base of the hill became unnerved at the approach of the 2,500 men in gray. Some fled up the hill, while others surrendered. Crushing all resistance, the 9th Louisiana and 6th North Carolina regiments stormed the Union artillery batteries at the crest near the cemetery gatehouse, and captured several cannon.
The Confederates had breached the Union line, but other Confederate units expected to attack in concert had not. The isolated Southerners soon faced the blazing muskets of Union reinforcements, who forced them to retreat down the slope in the dark. The "keystone" of the Union line had been saved.
Confederate infantry assault East Cemetery Hill in this wartime sketch by Edwin Forbes. Union artillery emplacements are seen in front of the cemetery gatehouse. The Confederates lost more than 350 men in the attack. Col. Isaac E. Avery, commanding Hoke's brigade of North Carolinians, was shot from his saddle at the base of the hill. Before he died he scrawled a note to his father: "Tell them I died with my face towards the enemy."
Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry T. Hays led his crack brigade, the "Louisiana Tigers," up East Cemetery Hill where they fought hand-to-hand with the stubborn Union cannoneers. "Arriving at the summit, by a simultaneous rush from my whole line, I captured several pieces of artillery, four stand of colors, and a number of prisoners.
Col. Wladimir Krzyanowski a Polish-German immigrant, helped to recruit fellow immigrants for the Union Army. His men, with those of Col. Samuel S. Carroll, came to the rescue of East Cemetery Hill on the night of July 2. |