Little Round Top

Little Round Top. Gettysburg National Military Park. , On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched numerous attacks against Gen. George Meade's Union army. Little Round Top, the key position on the southern portion of the battlefield, lay undefended and both sides sought control. A brutal fight took place on these rocky slopes., . A Around 3:30 PM Union Gen. G.K. Warren arrived on the summit and discovered the hill undefended. , . B Union Col. Strong Vincent answered the call for reinforcements and positioned his 1,300 man brigade on the southern slope of the hill. , . C Moments later the Confederate attack arrived here. , . D Union artillery, commanded by Lt. Charles Hazlett, also rushed to the summit. , . E Confederates nearing the crest were driven back by the timely arrival of the 140th New York Infantry. , . F Union Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain and the 20th Maine launched a desperate bayonet charge that drove the Confederates from the hill, ending their assault., An estimated 4,864 combatants participated in the hour and a half long struggle. Over 1,185 numbered among the killed, wounded, or captured., "It was a death grapple in which assailant and assailed seem resolved to win or fall in the struggle. The enemy had everything to gain if they carried the position; everything to lose if they failed, and they fought most desperately, and determinedly. Perhaps the whole history of the war does not present a more desperate or heroic struggle." , Capt. Amos M. Judson, U.S.A. 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers