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The Eye of General Warren
July 2, 1863 - Second Day
"I saw that this [Little Round Top] was the key to the whole position..."
-- Brig. Gen. G.K. Warren, U.S.A., Chief of Engineers, Army of the Potomac
About 3:30 p.m. on July 2, the Union army's Chief Engineer, Brig. Gen. G.K. Warren, stepped out on these rocks with his binoculars. General Meade had sent him to examine battlefield conditions in the area. Warren found Union signalmen here, but no infantry. Little Round Top was undefended.
Warren discovered that Confederate troops were concealed in the woods just beyond the Emmitsburg Road (the second line of trees on the horizon). If these Southerners were allowed to seize Little Round Top, the Union army would be dangerously outflanked.
General Warren quickly dispatched aides to seek troops to defend the hill. Col. Strong Vincent's Brigade arrived just in time to meet the onrushing Confederates, and a bloody conflict ensued. When Vincent's men were nearly overwhelmed, Warren found Col. Patrick O'Rorke's 140th New York Infantry on the hillside behind you and rushed them into the fight to save the day for the Union.
From near this point on Little Round Top, General Warren scans the horizon for attacking Confederates of Longstreet's Corps. The sight of a large enemy force about to outflank the Union position struck Warren as "almost appalling." Behind Warren, Union signalmen use a flag to send coded messages.
Visible in the front of you is a bronze figure of General Warren standing on the boulder where he stood on July 2. The statue was dedicated in 1888.
The keen eye and decisive judgment of Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren helped save Little Round Top - and perhaps the battle - for the Union. Before the war Warren worked as a topographical engineer, and as a mathematics instructor at West Point where he had graduated second in his class in 1850. Here at Little Round Top he eluded death when a bullet grazed his neck. |