Confrontation at Gettysburg by John David Hoptak

Author:John David Hoptak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

H.A. Ogden’s dramatic rendering of General James Longstreet overseeing his divisions’ attacks on July 2 at Gettysburg. Library of Congress.

One South Carolinian remembered that the Union shells “were cutting off the arms, legs and heads of our men, cutting them in two, and exploding in their bodies, tearing them to mincement.” Yet in the face of this destructive fire, the three South Carolina units pressed on, drawing ever nearer to the largely unsupported line of Union guns. But just at the moment it seemed that these men might overrun the cannons, there occurred a tragic miscommunication of orders—all too common on both sides that day—that brought their attack to an abrupt and bloody end.

Kershaw had yelled out orders for the soldiers of his right wing to shift farther to their right in order to better close up with Anderson’s men in Rose’s Woods. Somehow, this order was also conveyed to the soldiers of his left wing, who then turned to their right and began bearing down easterly toward Stony Hill. This change in direction exposed their left flank to the devastating artillery fire, and the South Carolinians crumbled. As Kershaw later famously wrote, “[H]undreds of the bravest and best men of Carolina fell, victims of this fatal blunder.” But this fatal blunder did have one unintended consequence, one that led to the unraveling of the Union line in the Wheatfield.

After Vincent’s brigade had peeled away from the head of his division’s column—going on to earn great glory on the slopes of Little Round Top—General James Barnes led Colonel William Tilton’s and Colonel Jacob Sweitzer’s brigades toward the Wheatfield. The 1,600 men of these two brigades arrived on Stony Hill just in time to help repulse Tige Anderson’s first attack, but their position on that small, tree-covered rise of ground greatly troubled both Barnes and Colonel Tilton. There was a large gap between Tilton’s right flank on Stony Hill and Graham’s men in the Peach Orchard, covered only by a thin line of skirmishers and by those cannons lined up along the Wheatfield Road to their right-rear. Making matters worse for Tilton, following the repulse of Anderson’s first attack, the 8th New Jersey and 115th Pennsylvania—two of Burling’s regiments—withdrew from their positions in front of Stony Hill, mistakenly believing that they were being relieved, which, in turn, forced De Trobriand to spread his line ever thinner.

Then, surging forward once more through the trees came Tige Anderson’s indefatigable Georgians, joined now by Kershaw’s South Carolinians, advancing to their left, from around the Rose farm and toward Tilton’s line on Stony Hill. “Shot and shell raged terrifically,” recalled a soldier of the 118th Pennsylvania, while “[t]he familiar piercing rebel yell…dominated the uproar.” The Georgians and South Carolinians struck hard, but De Trobriand’s and Tilton’s men held firm, and this second Confederate attack was brought to a standstill. Anderson’s men limped back into the trees, while Kershaw’s men fell back toward the Rose farm. Yet while Kershaw looked around for support, the situation to his front was about to change.

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