With that in mind we have Ward's brigade on Houck's Ridge with its left 
about where Smith's guns are now located. From there the line ran to 
about to the modern intersection of Sickles and Ayres/Cross Avenues.
That  line was oriented on a WSW facing position. From the right of Ward
 through the entire south end of the Wheatfield there was no infantry
until reaching the Stony hill, where DeTrobriand had his brigade placed
facing west on the Stony Hill and several units facing south at the
southern end of that hill in sort of an L with the short leg of the L
pointing west. Stretching from the Peach Orchard a line of Skirmishers
ran past the Rose Farm then west of the G. W. Weikert (Timbers) Farm to
a position to the SW of the Slyder Farm.

     Also important to remember is that Meade had already visited Sickles and
had returned to call up the 5th Corps as the Confederate artillery prep
started, so that the first unit (Vincent) was already enroute. When Law
and then Robertson stepped off it became apparent at once that the
westward facing line was in trouble and Ward and DeTrobriand started to
shift units to plug those southward facing holes in the line. 

        As Law was having his own problems trying to switch his right two
regiments to the left of his line, a hole was opening in his own front
which would correspond to the very southern end of Houck's Ridge
(Devil's Den). Ward would shift one of his regiments from the ridge to a
position facing south in Plum Run Valley to guard against Law having an
unopposed sweep to his (Ward's) rear. At the same time Vincent had to
have been approaching the NE corner of the Wheatfield and upon learning
that LRT was undefended started his counter march. This action had to
have been that early or his brigade would not have had time to
circumnavigate LRT and be in position when the Texans and the 4th AL hit
his line. While Ward was shifting troops, DeTrobriand was doing the
same, bringing troops from the Stony Hill (which was still an hour from
being assaulted) to the stone fence at the south end of the Wheatfield
(17th ME). At the same time the initial units were taken from Burling’s
brigade, who had been Sickles only reserve and had been located in the
west end of Trostle's Woods. Those units were sent to Plum Run Valley to
help Ward withstand the attack that was developing there and a unit was
also sent to DeTrobriand to help fill the large hole at the south end of
the Wheatfield.

     By this time Vincent had been climbing the back side of LRT and was
going into position as the initial contact was made between Ward and
Law/Robertson near the Devil's Den and the triangular field.

        The positions after the shifting that Ward and Detrobriand had done,
now made a line that ran from the bottom slopes of LRT in Plum run
Valley onto Houck's Ridge through the south end of the Wheatfield to the
south end of the Stony Hill then NOTHING till the Peach Orchard except
for unsupported artillery and some skirmishers. In this opening phase
the echelon attack had worked to perfection drawing the defenders from
positions in the center and right of Sickles line and skewing them to
the left. 

     The timely shift to the left of the Federal forces along Houck's Ridge
allowed their line to withstand the initial assault by Law and
Robertson's men. Shortly thereafter the remaining units of Law came
against LRT and Vincent's brigade, but since the Wheatfield is the focus
for our purpose, we will leave Vincent's men to their own part of the fight.
By this time Benning had moved forward intending to follow Law but that
brigade had entered the woods on the lower slopes of BRT and seeing only
Robertson to his front that is where Benning went, adding his weight
against Ward's line on Houck's Ridge. Shortly after Benning, Anderson
moved to the attack on an axis which would bring him in to the left of
Robertson and strike the south end of the Wheatfield. This was
instrumental in the success of Robertson/Benning on Houck's Ridge since
until pressure was bought on the Wheatfield area, the 17th ME whose
position at the stone wall had enfiladed units attempting to attack Ward
and had caused numerous casualties in the 3rd ARK aborting their attempt
to dislodge Ward.

        With pressure now from Anderson, The 17th ME and other units in the
Wheatfield had all they could handle but were able to force Anderson
back since he initially had no support on his left. At about the time
Anderson was held, then forced back several hundred yards, Tilton and
Sweitzer were approaching the Stony Hill and going into position
extending DeTrobriand's line at an angle that faced west toward the Rose
Farm buildings. Heavy pressure in the Plum Run Valley/Houck's Ridge area
was now starting to slowly drive Ward's left rearward.

        After a small interval, Kershaw, the first of McLaws units,
moved off
of Warfield Ridge and started to attack on an axis that would envelop
the Stony Hill. Anderson now had support on his left and reengaged the
south end of the Wheatfield. Kershaw's advance exposed his left units to
artillery fire from the line of unsupported guns positioned along what
is now Wheatfield Road and in order to deal with that problem he changed
the axis of his left three units and sent them toward that road and the
guns. 

        At the same time Kershaw was attacking the Stony Hill with his other
units. Initially holding Kershaw, Tilton and Sweitzer were surprised to
be ordered by Barnes, to fall back to Trostle's Woods and take position
with Tilton facing to the west and the rear of the artillery line along
Wheatfield Road and Sweitzer facing south across that road into the
northwest end of the Wheatfield itself.
This move by Barnes is generally thought to be motivated by his thinking
that Kershaw's left units would make short work of the unsupported gun
line and then be on Barnes flank and rear.
Unfortunately for Kershaw a mix-up in orders caused his three left units
to flank to their right, exposing their unprotected left to the combined
canister fire of the gunners along Wheatfield Road and causing many
casualties and they went to ground to seek what shelter was available in
the open field where they were.

        The situation at this time was: Robertson/Benning were slowly prying
Ward's hold from the south end of Houck's Ridge, Anderson was
re-attacking the south end of the Wheatfield and beginning to make some
headway against units that were starting to run low on ammo and who had
also suffered casualties and Kershaw was starting to move again on the
Stony hill where the opposing pressure had been removed by Barnes withdrawal.
This then was the situation as Caldwell approached the north end of the
Wheatfield with his units "left in front" having moved quickly on
Hancock's orders to reinforce the area.

     As Caldwell's division approached the north end of The Wheatfield the
units of Ward and DeTrobriand had just about reached the limit of
endurance. Running low on ammunition and with mounting casualties they
were being forced back along Houck's Ridge and into the south end of The
Wheatfield. On the Stony Hill Kershaw was moving forward on a NE axis
into the void left by Barnes withdrawal. As Caldwell's column started its
movement toward the Wheatfield its last unit (Zook) was removed from
Caldwell's control by a 3rd corps staff officer in a move that would be
all too frequent that afternoon. Sickles and his staff were grabbing
units as they came forward and placing them willy nilly where the need seemed to be
greatest and by doing so those units were removed from their normal
chain of command and senior officers, causing more than needed
confusion. Sykes was at least moderately successful at maintaining
control of his units but the 2nd corps reinforcements suffered from the
practice. Zook was directed toward the north end of the Stony Hill and
forming line he advanced against Kershaw.

     Meanwhile Caldwell had arrived at the northern boundary of the
Wheatfield and a 3rd corps staff officer told him merely to "Go in
there", pointing south through the field. For those unfamiliar with
Wheatfield Road at that spot I would mention that from that position it
is impossible, due to the slight rise in the ground where Winslow's
battery was placed, to see beyond that rise to the south half of the
field. Thus Caldwell was ordered to attack "in the blind" into a situation of which he had no knowledge.

        Placing Cross on the left and Kelly on the right Caldwell
advanced into the field. Cross's line was oriented more or less on an E-W axis and his
left was on the northern end of Houck's Ridge while his right extended
partially into the Wheatfield. The units of Ward's defense were
withdrawing through Cross and those in the valley, being driven back by
the combined forces of Robertson, Benning and Law. Kelly had formed his
line and advanced south through the western side of the field with his
right somewhat on the Stony Hill (since Zook was already there and
removed from Caldwell's control there was some unfortunate intermingling
of Kelly's right and Zook's left.) The advance by the two brigades of
Kelly and Cross coupled with that of Zook had the effect of driving
Kershaw back toward the Rose buildings and temporarily stalling the
drive of Benning, Robertson ect. At the same time the remaining units who had been there earlier retired through the advancing Federal brigades.

        As Brooke arrived with his brigade, Caldwell ordered him to advance
south through the field between Kelly and Cross. Brooke's axis was more
or less south through the field with a slight west vector. Brooke had
the advantage of hitting the "seam" between Kershaw's right and
Anderson's left where those units had not butted tightly against one
another so the resistance to his advance was less. Taking advantage of
the lowered pressure of the opposition, Brooke drove all the way to the
south end of the Wheatfield, crossed the small watercourse coming from
the Rose Farm and climbed the ridge to his front driving the flanks of
the opposition back upon themselves. However, upon reaching the crest of
the ridge Brooke was confronted by Semmes' fresh brigade and the advance
was halted. Brooke now found himself well beyond support on either
flank, the enemy on each flank recovering from the shock of his charge
and with a fresh unit confronting him. Brooke held his position for a
few minutes using the slope slightly below the crest to obtain some
shelter, but the pressure on his flanks was increasing and with no
prospect of support he was forced to retire. While this was ongoing
Cross had stalled and was giving orders in preparation for an advance
along his whole line when he was mortally wounded ending that effort.
Zook and Kelly were coming under pressure from Kershaw who had recovered
and was getting help from his units earlier hammered by the artillery
fire along Wheatfield Road. So the situation at that moment was, Cross
stalled, Kelly and Zook stalled and Brooke being forced back into the
south end of the field. Meanwhile events near the Peach Orchard were
happening which would put an end to Federal resistance in the
Wheatfield. 

        While Brooke had been advancing, the Confederate echelon attack had
finally rolled north to the brigade of Barksdale. Moving forward in an
aggressive attack Barksdale took little time breaking the point of
Sickles salient at the Peach Orchard. Pushing to the NE he outflanked
first Graham's then Humphreys line and Humphreys tried to form a new
line facing Barksdale's assault but the pressure from Barksdale on his
left and Anderson from the front slowly forced him to give ground. While
Barksdale's axis of attack was not aimed at the Wheatfield area his move
forward and to the left uncovered Wofford's brigade who promptly
advanced along the axis of Wheatfield Road. The gun line along that road
having limbered up, (with the exception of Bigelow who was retreating by
prolonge) there was no opposition to Wofford's advance till he reached
the western edge of Trostle's Woods and The Stony Hill.

        While Barksdale was breaking into the Peach Orchard, Semmes had started
to drive Brooke back into the Wheatfield and concurrent with that
Caldwell had tried to get more help for his division. Seeing Sweitzer in
the western end of Trostle's Woods, Caldwell had gone to Sweitzer and
asked him if he could advance into the field and add his weight to the
advance. Sweitzer said that he himself had no objections but that he
would need permission from Barnes. Riding to Tilton's position they
found Barnes who asked Sweitzer if he could do what was requested and
upon getting an affirmative, the three officers then went back to the
front of Sweitzer's units where Barnes stopped to make a speech! Finally
Sweitzer moved forward into the Wheatfield, advancing to the south end of
the field as Brooke was being forced back to the same area. Confronting
Semmes, Sweitzer was facing a larger unit and in moments the situation
got infinitely worse. While Sweitzer was moving, Wofford and Kershaw had
been moving also. The result was that Sweitzer, facing south in the
south end of the Wheatfield had not only Semmes to face but Kershaw and
Wofford advancing over the Stony Hill from his flank, their advance
having driven Zook and Kelly from that area. Several of Sweitzer's units
changed front under fire to try to protect themselves but the moves were
too little and too late and Sweitzer joined the rest of the disorganized
retreat from the Wheatfield toward the NE corner before the Confederates
could "close the bag". 

        As this had been playing out two more federal brigades were approaching
the Wheatfield from the east near the NE corner. The 5th corps brigades
of Burbank and Day crossed the marshy area around Plum Run and Burbank
entered the NE corner of the field facing more or less west. At the
moment the resistance in the south and west sides of the Wheatfield had
not collapsed so Burbank swung his brigade to the left to advance down
Houck's Ridge to face the Confederates who had driven Ward from that
area. The time it took to complete the maneuver and move to the attack
was enough to see the Federal resistance crumble on the west side of the
field and withdraw in a more or less disorderly fashion. This left
Burbank with Benning and elements of Law and Robertson to his front and
Kershaw and Wofford moving rapidly in on his right flank. Burbank's
Regulars (2nd, 7th, 10th, 11th and 17th US) along with Day "retreated in
good order" across the marshy space around Plum Run to the northwestern
slopes of LRT. In the case of the Regulars the phrase "retreat in good
order" seems to be correct, with the units falling back in formation,
crossing the marshy area around Plum Run, turning and firing at the
enveloping Confederates then moving up the northern slopes of Little
Round Top to support the batteries there. 

        While this did slow the Confederate advance somewhat, it also greatly
increased the casualty rate of the Regulars. Incidentally Gibbs battery
helped the withdrawal as when they reached the bottom of the slope
leading up onto the shoulder of LRT they saw the gunners waving madly
for the Regulars to lie down. Once the Regulars did, Gibbs men pulled
lanyard on six Napoleons double shotted with canister into the face of
the pursuing Confederates.  As the Regulars retreated
up the slopes of LRT there was no organized Federal resistance in Plum
Run Valley or the Wheatfield. But the Confederate advance was running
out of steam having had to fight hard for the ground gained, which was
all things considered, considerable. Slowing the advance along the small
stream in the valley they could see even more fresh Federals advancing
to meet them.

        Here the situation becomes a bit fuzzy with Longstreet saying
that he ordered Kershaw and Wofford to pull back and consolidate their gains.
OTOH we have the claim of Sam Crawford and the Pennsylvania Reserves
that their charge (for it was they that had been seen advancing) had
driven Kershaw and Wofford back into the Wheatfield. In either case the
PA Reserves secured a hold on the northern end of Plum Run Valley along
the slope of Houck's ridge and their line angled somewhat to the west
near the NE corner of the Wheatfield and past the eastern end of
Trostle's woods. The time was about sundown and rapidly approaching
darkness bought an end to the fighting in the area.