part II
John Dynia
B y now the Confederates had taken Houck's Ridge and Devil's Den. This
allowed the 48th Alabama to add its weight to the assault on Vincent's line.
Nevertheless the southern soldiers were in bad shape. Law's Alabamians had
executed a forced march just to reach the field at Gettysburg. Then there
had been the long and frustrating movement to get into position for the
assault, followed by the advance under fire. Many were without water. The
units were also all running low on ammunition. The battle had also taken a
heavy toll of Southern officers; both the 4th and 5th Texas had lost their
Colonels and Lt. Colonels. Still they kept fighting. And then victory
seemed in sight, the colors of the 16th Michigan, the right flank of Vincent
's line were withdrawing up the hill.
No one, then or now, is entirely sure how it happened. Some recalled an
officer shouting that the 16th should fall back to a position nearer the
crest of the hill. Perhaps the order was to refuse the line; perhaps there
was no order. Either way, Lt. William Kydd ordered the colors to withdraw.
The 16th Michigan was about to fall apart. Sensing the danger, Colonel
Vincent ordered the right flank of the 44th New York to engage the right
flank of the Confederates who were pushing the 16th Michigan back. Vincent
himself hurried to the scene to rally his men and fell with a mortal wound.
Into this maelstrom rushed Paddy O'Rorke and the 140th New York.
The 140 New York, in their month old Zouave uniforms jogged up the East side
of Little Round Top. After a brief entanglement with Hazlett's guns they
reached the crest, some probably loading on the way. The sight that met the
New Yorkers was horrific. The 16th Michigan pulling back in confusion,
Confederates occupying the ridge in front, the yip of the Rebel Yell was
mixing with the zip of minie balls, the crash of Hazlett's ten-pounders all
adding their fury to the screams of the wounded. There was no time to
deploy. O'Rorke dismounted, drew his sword and yelled, "down this way
boys!" A and G companies tumbled down the hillside until they could
roughly form on the right flank of the 16th Michigan. O'Rorke shouted
again, "here they are men, commence firing!" Almost immediately thereafter
he fell, a bullet through his neck. The men of the 140th returned fire.
The body of the Southerner who purportedly shot O'Rorke was found after the
battle. He had seventeen wounds in his body. As the rest of the Regiment
came on line they turned the tide of the struggle on the right. There were
now too simply too many fresh Federal soldiers. Victory, which had seemed
so close only moments before had turned into withdrawal. Soon the rest of
Weed's Brigade was up and the right flank was impregnable.
The 15th Alabama had come down the slope of Big Round Top without deploying
skirmishers. As the crashed out of the woods they spotted some wagons.
These wagons multiplied until they seemed to be the entire wagon park of the
Army of the Potomac. In reality they were probably the battery wagons and
caissons of Hazlett's Battery. Still, it would have been an easy mistake to
make, they had found wagons, surely there were more behind them that could
not be seen. For a moment Oates thought that the ultimate prize, the open
and undefended rear area of the Army of the Potomac lay within his grasp.
Then a heavy crash of musketry to his left showed his prize to be illusory.
The Union battle line extended along the hillside.
On the opposite side was the 20th Maine, the left flank regiment of Vincent'
s line. At first lightly engaged the regiment had felt increasing pressure
as the weight of the Confederate attacks had shifted from the center of the
line to both flanks.
One of the 20th's officers had seen Southern troops moving through the trees
toward the 20th's open left flank. He pointed this out to Colonel
Chamberlain, commanding officer of the 20th. Chamberlain had, on the
regiment's arrival at Little Round Top, sent out one of his Companies, "B",
to help guard against just such a movement, but now there was no sign of
them. Now, to counter the 15th's move he legnthed his line by thinning it
out to a single rank and refused it by bending it back at roughly a ninety
degree angle to cover his left flank. The 20th's entire line was soon hotly
engaged.
Oates evidently felt that he could collapse the flank of the Union line in
his front, forcing them to withdraw from the hill. If the Alabamians did
not succeed it was not for want of trying. Both sides gave and gained
ground as the charges and countercharges, really more short, sudden rushes,
ebbed and flowed. All the while both sides kept up a destructive fire.
Chamberlain, having been told by Vincent to "hold this position at all
hazards," was finding it increasingly difficult to do so. The heavy
musketry that kept the 15th at bay was rapidly eating up the ammunition
supply. Men were pulling the dead and wounded of both sides into the line,
rifling their pockets for cartridges. Some men of the 20th were replacing
their Enfield rifles with the Springfields carried by the Southern troops.
Messengers were sent out to try to find ammunition and reinforcements. The
rest of Vincent's line, now commanded by Colonel Rice, was beleaguered as
well, so no help was forthcoming. Still, the 83rd Pennsylvania on the 20th'
s right flank gave what help it could by fire and limited maneuver.
However all was not well in the Confederate lines. The attack against the
Union right flank had failed and now the arrival of the rest of Weed's
Brigade had ensured that, without heavy reinforcement, further advance
against the right was impossible. Ammunition was starting to run short, the
men were worn out and casualties, especially among officers had been heavy.
The 47th Alabama, on Oates' left, began to give way.
At almost the same time the 20th Maine was all but out of ammunition. They
couldn't pull back, to do so would unhinge the line, and there was an
increased noise of battle in their rear. While this was probably O'Rorke
and the 140th New York going into action as well as Hazlett's guns,
Chamberlain took it for the sound of a Confederate attack. He assumed that
the position was being surrounded. The Regiment couldn't stay where it was,
not without ammunition. The only answer seemed to be an advance, a bayonet
charge. So the 20th charged, first straightening it's refused left flank
and then the entire Regiment swept down the hillside. They caught Oates as
the 15th was preparing to withdraw. The 15th started to fall back in
confusion. At this moment Chamberlain's "B" Company finally put in an
appearance. Having seen that they were badly outnumbered when the 15th
Alabama first appeared, they had sought shelter behind a stonewall where
they found about a dozen skirmishers from the 2nd USSS. Oates was now
caught between the bayonet charge from the hill and what appeared to him to
be a large infantry force firing from his rear. The entire Confederate line
in front of Little Round Top collapsed. The struggle on the far Union left
was over.