I'd like to welcome all of you to Gettysburg
National Military Park. I'm John Hoptak, Park Ranger here. This is a battle walk program. These are two-hour long programs designed
to zero in on one particular aspect of the battle, and today we're going to be examining
the chaos, the confusion, the back and forth fighting that was the Wheatfield. So we will be going just under two miles round-trip,
it might feel like more with the humidity today, and we will be cutting through some
tall grass for those of you in shorts. Just a heads up! Are we all on board with that? Very good. Before I really get into the battle action
on this end of the battlefield, I wanted to begin with a quote from a soldier who fought
here at Gettysburg even though he fought on the other side of town with the 1st Army Corps. "Any member of a regiment, officer or private
can have but little knowledge of movements outside of his immediate command. The idea that a soldier whose simple duty
is to remain in the ranks and move in geometrical lines has an opportunity to view Gettysburg
as a panorama is simply absurd. After that first volley of musketry he is
a rare man who theorizes or speculates on the actions of a comrade or of his regiment,
much more of that of a commanding general three miles distant. The inequalities of the ground, the wooded
slopes and steep ravines, the fog, the dense smoke, and the apparent and often real confusion
of troops moving in different directions and under different order utterly precludes the
possibility of a correct, detailed observation of a battle." Wow. That was a soldier who fought here. Here we are 151 years later trying to make
sense of what happened here. It is a lot of chaos, it is a lot of confusion,
and especially the battle that we're going to examine today, the late afternoon and early
evening combat that took place in George Rose's 26-acre Wheatfield, swept back and forth that
afternoon, and it involved the soldiers of more than 13 Union brigades from 3 different
corps. The soldiers from 8 different Union brigades
from 2 different divisions. All in all approximately 8,000 Unions, 10,000
Union troops, all within that 26-acre field of wheat. Back and forth, a lot of moving parts. So, that was my disclaimer. The reason why I began with that quote is
that I might be mistaken, I might be incorrect in some of my interpretation, but that's why
we study history, right? Now I know many of you are seasoned veterans
of the Gettysburg battlefield, have actually been on this program before when I gave it
last year. How many here by show of hands are visiting
Gettysburg for the very first time? There's a good number of us here. For those of you for the first time, just
briefly, very briefly, we'll get you caught up. It was in early June of 63 that the Confederate
army embarked upon this northern invasion. Lee had come north into Pennsylvania hoping
to achieve a victory on Union soil. It was on July 1st, a Wednesday, when the
armies almost accidentally encountered each other on the west side of Gettysburg, and
by the morning of July 1st, even though neither army commander necessarily chose Gettysburg,
they would both decide to fight here. So the Union army would take up a position,
the famed fish-hook line if you're familiar with that, beginning on Culp's Hill and swinging
down Cemetery Hill, Cemetery Ridge, and the line was supposed to end somewhere in this
general vicinity. He we are standing on the north end of Little
Round Top rising up behind you. For those of you who study the battle, of
course, you know that this was not necessarily the case, because the Union Corps Commander
Daniel Sickles, he thought he would position his men in a bit better position. What he decided to do -- and I'm going to
leave this to a whole other battle walk -- Dan Sickles and his decision, Dan Sickles on the
afternoon of July 2nd will move his 3rd Corps out of its assigned location and take up positions
as far as three-quarters of a mile to the west or to the front, allowing that Peach
Orchard owned by Joseph Sherfy along the Emmitsburg Road and stretching from that Peach Orchard,
back toward that collection of boulders known as Devil's Den. So I'm not really here to get into what motivated
Sickles to do this but we are going to talk about the fallout, what happened as a result
of that movement. Does anyone here want me to go over army structure? Like when I talk about corps, divisions, brigades? We think we've got that covered? Very good. If ever you have a question certainly just
let me know and I'll do my best to answer. On the afternoon of July 2nd, 10,000 Union
troops consisting of the 3rd Corps will move forward out of this position. David Bell Birney's division stretching north
and west, Andrew Humphrey's division stretching north along the Emmitsburg Road. It was about 3pm that afternoon and much of
the entire day had passed with George Meade scratching his head. He's trying to figure out what in the world
Robert E. Lee was up to. He anticipated an attack but during the morning
hours Meade was convinced that Lee was going to attack toward Culp's Hill on the right
end of his line and not the left. So just about three o'clock that afternoon,
George Meade is going to call his corps commanders to his headquarters and he is going to ask
them the condition of their command, the placement of their troops, and their overall sentiment
about what to expect from Lee. One by one these major generals began to arrive
at headquarters. George Sykes commanding the 5th Corps is there,
Alfred Pleasanton commanding the cavalry, Winfield Hancock, all were beginning to arrive
except the 3rd Corps commander, Daniel Sickles. And at this moment, Dan Sickles was well to
our west helping to reposition his command. He's not showing up. George Meade is getting angry. He calls for him three different times before
he finally shows up, but before Sickles made his way back to headquarters the chief engineer
of the army had arrived. And the chief engineer Gouverneur Warren had
some pretty upsetting news for Meade. One-seventh of his army, the 10,000 men of
the 3rd Corps was not holding its assigned locations. Moments later they could hear the dull thud
of artillery in the distance, knowing now that battle is soon in the offing. So when George Meade noticed Sickles riding
up he yelled at him, he cursed him out, he said: go back to your line, attend to your
troops, I will ride out and see to affairs there, and he dismissed his subordinates. This was a critical moment in the career of
George Meade because remember, he was not here on July 1st, so the new army commander
was not present on the battlefield as the battle raged west and north of town. He didn't arrive at Gettysburg until just
about midnight, early on the morning of July 2nd, and much of the day had passed with no
action. But just like the snap of the fingers, George
Meade is called to confront a crisis. Sickles had moved, the Confederate army was
about to attack, so what does Meade do? He will turn to his 5th Corps commander, Sykes,
and he will direct Sykes to bring his corps, just about 12,000 troops south from the position
they held. They were in reserve just about where Powers
Hill and the new visitors center is. Can we keep saying new? It is six years old. So those men, those 5th Corps troops will
begin to make their way south, told to hold the left flank of the army. As Sykes later wrote, "The key to the battlefield
was entrusted to my command." And George Meade and Gouverneur Warren will
continue to ride south from Cemetery Ridge, the Confederate artillery continue to escalate,
and George Meade and his cavalcade of officers will ride up the Wheatfield road. He pointed backwards toward Little Round Top
and told Warren, "Attend to matters up there," while he road out to the Peach Orchard to
meet with Sickles. And when he got to the Peach Orchard he asked
Sickles what he had done. Why did you move forward? Well I moved forward to take advantage of
the higher ground. Higher ground? Yes! But general, if you notice the ground continues
to rise to the west until you're standing atop the rocky mountains. Dan Sickles at that point looked at Meade
and asked whether or not he should withdraw his command back to its assigned location. And George Meade looked at him and he pointed
toward the Confederates and Seminary Ridge just a few hundred yards away and said, "I
wish to God you could fall back but those people will not let you." He told Sickles to hold on as long as possible. The 5th Corps, those 12,000 men, will be making
their way south to his support. And with that, George Meade turned around,
returned back toward his headquarters, and the Confederate assault was about to kick
off. And we're going to focus on that at our next
stop. Making our way from here to our next stop
we will be traveling along a lot of the tour roads so I do caution you to watch behind
you, watch to your front. A lot of folks who live nearby are getting
off of work and use these roads as shortcuts. So just be aware of that. I'll looking forward to meeting up with you
near the Wheatfield. I just wanted to pause here momentarily, of
course, to get you off the tour road, but from here we can look to our north, and see
some landmarks. If you look north you'll see the Pennsylvania
Memorial with the angel on top. You can all see that, correct rising out in
the distance? Union 2nd Corps troops held that position,
specifically the division of John Caldwell. We're going to talk about him a little bit
later on in the fight. So the 2nd Corps is holding position a little
up near the PA Monument further north up toward Cemetery Hill. South of there heading toward us you'll see
the barn of the George Weikert property. Now when George Sykes, the commander of the
5th Corps, was told to bring his men south as quickly as possible he began to shuffle
his three divisions toward this end of the field. The accounts conflict as to exactly how they
all got here. The leading division was commanded by a 61-year-old
general named James Barnes. He's not a household name but James Barnes
commanded the leading division of the 5th Corps and by all accounts it seems as though
he brought his division cross-country, past the Weikert farm, and south across the ground
in front of you, while the other two divisions of the 5th Corps under Roman Ayres and Samuel
Crawford would make their way across Taneytown Road and come up this road behind us here,
the Wheatfield, and ascending up in to the valley here. Again, but accounts do conflict, remember
that quote I began with. So James Barnes actually has three brigades
under his command. Leading the way, Strong Vincent's 1300 troops
from Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan. And again the accounts differ. The famous story is that Strong Vincent intercepted
a staff officer from Gouverneur Warren. Gouverneur Warren had arrived on Little Round
Top, saw that the Confederates were about to step forward to the attack, sent his staff
galloping in every direction looking for help, riding out to Sickles, Sickles claimed he
had no one to spare, but the 5th Corps is heading this way, find them. And according to this one account written
by a soldier who served under Vincent, Strong Vincent stopped the messenger, the staff officer
and he asked him his orders. "The orders are to get troops to that hilltop
yonder," and without direct orders from his superiors, Strong Vincent decided to take
the initiative and lead his men there. That has become the most popularly accepted
story, but James Barnes in his official report tells a much different, more boring story. It was he who found the staff office and he
told the staff officer that Vincent's in the lead and he will take troops to Little Round
Top, so I guess it's all who you want to believe; the more dramatic telling or Barnes's account
in his official report that he directed Vincent to Little Round Top. But what we need to know for the purposes
of our program is that as Barnes's division was heading south, Strong Vincent will continue
up to Little round Top and great fame. His other two brigades under William Tilton
and Jacob Sweitzer are going to peel off, make their way around the Trostle Woods, and
head to the support of 3rd Corps troops holding a position in the Wheatfield. So we're going to actually head up toward
that position there, but I wanted to give you a visual at least where all these men
are coming from, shuffling south. Alright, let's get off that tour road. That was the longest stretch of our battle
walk today. We're standing in George Rose's Wheatfield,
in fact here we are on the eastern edge of it. The Wheatfield itself stretched from where
we're standing off here to the south toward the distant trees, the Rose Woods. The western border of it is these trees you
see directly ahead standing atop a rise of ground, a stony rise of ground that is called
Stony Hill. And the northern edge of the Wheatfield is
along the Wheatfield Road, 26 acres all in all. And a couple of the things I really wanted
to stress today with this battle walk-- we talked about two of them already, the chaos,
the confusion, but another key term that I want to introduce is control. Remember all those different numbers and units
we talked about? 13 Union brigades, 8 Confederate brigades;
who was in command? North or south? Who was the guiding hand directing the actions
down here in the Wheatfield? Well as we're going to find out, there really
wasn't any. This became a battle of small unit actions. Either regiment by regiment or brigade by
brigade; a lot of confusion as a result. When Dan Sickles wrote about Gettysburg, part
of the reason why he chose to advance was he said originally he had too much ground
to cover with too few men. But when he advanced, the ground really opened
up and he found himself having to cover a lot more territory than originally assigned. Andrew Humphrey's division will stretch north
along the Emmitsburg Road from the Peach Orchard up toward the Codori barn. David Birney's division will stretch from
the Peach Orchard backwards toward the Devil's Den behind you. And in the trees behind you Would have been
soldiers from John Henry Hobart Ward's brigade, about 2200 men from Indiana, Pennsylvania,
New York, and they would have stretched down toward the Devil's Den on the southern end
of the field. And before Strong Vincent arrived on Little
Round Top we have to remember that the left flank of the Union line was Devil’s Den. And as the Union line stretched through the
trees here in the Wheatfield, this sector of the Union line was commanded by Phillipe
Regis de Keredern de Trobriand. Easy for you to say, right? De Trobriand had a 3rd Corps brigade and his
regiments were rather staggered. Originally they are positioned atop Stony
Hill looking toward the west. He had skirmishers from Michigan out near
the Rose Farm to your left front and out toward the Emmitsburg Road. And there was a sizable gap in the Union Line
between the Stony Hill and the Peach Orchard. About a 300-yard gap that was covered only
at this point by skirmishers. And at the Peach Orchard Graham's brigade
and then Humphrey's division. So a lot of ground to cover, it's a weak line. Birney knows that. When George Sykes arrived on the field he
apparently met with Birney somewhere in the area of the Wheatfield, and he told Birney
that he is going to be sending 5th Corps troops to reinforce this part of the Union line,
and that he could if he wanted shift de Trobriand’s men further south toward Devil's Den. That is how the 40th New York ends up in that
Valley of Death and other units. So de Trobriand will pull his men from Stony
Hill and advance them to a stone fence that lined the southern end of the Wheatfield. The 17th Maine will take that position and
we're going to walk to that position next, and from there, troops from Pennsylvania and
Michigan. The 5th Corps continued to make its way south,
and as Vincent's men peeled up toward Little Round Top, the brigades of Tilton and Sweitzer
advanced toward Stony Hill. They're going to take up positions in those
trees to reinforce de Trombriand's line and they will get there just moments before the
Confederate attack descended upon this end of the field. And behind me are my Confederate brigade commanders. Looking fierce, right? Very good. Where is Evander Law? That's right up front, you are Tyler? Could you step forward please and stand right
here? And where is Henry Benning? Benning's brigade? Can you stand directly behind Law? Where is Robertson's brigade? Can you stand right here? And where is G.T. Anderson? Can you stand directly behind him? Joseph Kershaw is next. Kershaw's brigade. And behind Kershaw I need Paul Semmes. That's you Malikai, thank you. Very good. Next in line would have been William Barksdale. Here we are. And you are William Wofford. Very good. There we are. This is the way that the Confederate brigades
would have positioned themselves for the attack. Two divisions of James Longstreet's command. On the far right, these four brigades, John
Bell Hood's division. On the left LaFayette McLaws's division. Stretching further north would have been four
more brigades from the Third Corps. And I know a lot of the history of Gettysburg
focuses around Day 3 and Pickett’s Charge but look at this lineup. On Day 2, twelve brigades, over 20,000 men
were about ready to descend upon the Union line. It took a while for these men to get into
position; it took a while for Lee to work out his battle plan. And when these men arrived at their assigned
location at about three o'clock, they discovered that the Union line was simply not holding
the ground Lee thought it was. Sickles had advanced, he had moved forward. That forced the Confederates to adjust. Instead of McLaws's division leading the attack,
Hood's men stepped around to their south and now they will lead the attack. And the general plan was for the attack to
go forward and all these Confederate troops advance and then swing to get around the Union
left and roll it up as it advanced up toward Cemetery Ridge. Now, when Sickles moved forward. I'm going to need one more volunteer. Step forward please, sir, thank you. He has two divisions. All I need you to do is stand with your arms
like this. This is Humphrey's division. His other division under Birney is me. Where our hands meet is the Peach Orchard. My left hand is Devil's Den. So now the Confederates have already gotten
around our left. Law's brigade is going to commence this grand
assault, an en echelon style of attack. Law's men are going to step forward first. So take a step forward, there we are. Next, Robertson's men are going to go forward. Behind them will be Benning and G.T. Anderson. I want us all to pay attention over here,
raise your hand G.T. Anderson, because when Law began his assault he'll carry the attack
toward Devil's Den and Little Round Top behind it. Robertson is going to strike Devil's Den and
the trees just behind us. Benning was supposed to follow Law, but very
soon after the attack commences, Hood, the division commander, is wounded badly and there's
that command confusion already setting in. Benning instead follows behind Robertson and
adds the weight of his numbers to the attack on Devil's Den while G.T. Anderson will move
forward and make his way through the trees and approach the Wheatfield. So by the time the Confederate attack stepped
forward three brigades had already gone forward before the action in the Wheatfield commenced. It's going to involve G.T. Anderson and after
Anderson's men became engaged, McLaws's division will be moved into the attack. I simply just want us to remember: Kershaw,
Semmes, Barksdale, and Wofford, okay? Because it's going to be like a series of
hammer blows, one brigade after the next, moving forward, and the Union line is going
to receive every one of those repeated blows. Thanks so much. Thanks to our volunteers up here. I'll take these back, thank you. Alright, so what we're going to do now is
we're going to make our way out of the sun and down toward the shade. Now standing here at the southern edge of
the Wheatfield we have to try to envision the Wheatfield during the battle without these
tour roads breaking things up. The Wheatfield would extend across the tour
road and toward us and toward the stone fence that lined the wood, and continued toward
the rail fence lining the base of Stony Hill. And even just standing right here, you look
at the monuments behind us, in front of us, haphazardly placed. Some of the monuments have the cross, denoting
a 5th Corps unit, some of them have the diamond indicating they belong to the 3rd Corps. Some of them have a trefoil indicating they
belong to the 2nd Corps. So a lot of moving parts, a lot of different
troops would all combine here in this field of wheat. The 17th Maine belonged to de Trobriand's
brigade and when Birney decided to strengthen his left near Devil's Den, de Trobriand would
position his men along this wall. To the right of the 17th Maine would have
been the 8th New Jersey, 110th Pennsylvania, 5th Michigan, stretching toward the west. In this position they would have heard the
Confederate artillery from along Seminary Ridge well to the west beginning that bombardment. E.P. Alexander wrote that the fire on July
2nd was some of the sharpest and fiercest he'd heard during the entire war. The artillery commenced. John Bell Hood's division will step forward
further to the south; perhaps we could've heard that Rebel Yell rising above the din
of cannons. And in front of us, through the trees, we
would have heard the battle action commence near Devil's Den. The sharp crack of musket fire, the Yankee
huzzah, the Rebel Yell, and behind us, George Winslow’s six Napoleons, positioned at the
highest part of the Wheatfield, are throwing shot over our heads crashing into the trees,
hitting the Confederate troops who are pushing right to left and toward Hobart Ward's men. But with each successive wave, Evander Law,
Jerome Robertson, G.T. Anderson, the battle began to shift toward us. When G.T. Anderson's men stepped forward from Seminary
Ridge they double-quicked across the fields, climbed up and over the fence rails that lined
the Emmitsburg Road and came under a tremendous artillery bombardment from Union cannons in
the Peach Orchard, tearing especially into the ranks of the 9th Georgia infantry. These men are winded, they are exhausted,
as they make their way into the trees here and the units on the right will support Robertson's
men, the 3rd Arkansas, the 1st Texas, in their struggle against Ward. The units on the left will veer toward de
Trobriand's line. And soon the Union troops in this position
will rise up and fire to their front because the woods in front of us are getting filled
with from men from Georgia, the 8th, the 11th, the 59th. Making their way through the trees, there
is a heavy musket fire making its way from de Trobriand's men in position here. There is a heavy musket fire breaking out
from Stony Hill behind us. If we had turned around we would have seen
the volleys, the sheet of flame, coming from Tilton and Sweitzer's units, 5th Corps troops
that had arrived in our support. G.T. Anderson's men will give it a good go but
they fall back, they reform, they try it again. At one point soldiers from the 115th Pennsylvania
and 8th New Jersey, who belonged to George Burling's brigade of the 3rd Corps and not
de Trobriand, they left, feeling that their position was being turned. They fall back toward the Wheatfield and Winslow’s
guns for support. That exposed the right of the 17th Maine. Soon, Confederates emerged from the trees
and begin to fire down the right of the Maine line. The colonel from Maine does what? He refused the line. No we're not talking about Chamberlain, from
the 20th Maine on Little Round Top, which by the way was probably happening around this
same time. The 17th Maine will throw back its rightmost
companies, firing to the west, firing to the south. Tilton and Sweitzer's men will continue to
fire from the Stony Hill, and for the second time G.T. Anderson is going to fall back through
the trees and reform. G.T. Anderson is among those shot down and
severely wounded. So again this whole issue of command, control. The fighting, though, is only beginning. Remember our 8 brigades? G.T. Anderson will push back through the trees,
looking to his left, awaiting the next wave. When is McLaws going to move forward? McLaws's first brigade under Kershaw will
move forward at approximately 5:30. They'll sweep forward from their position
and G.T. Anderson is going to try to link up for another concerted push toward the Wheatfield
and the troops up on Stony Hill. So we're going to head up now to Stony Hill. We're going to head to more shade. Very good. Let's head up to that tree-top. Now in order for us to truly understand the
action in the Wheatfield, we also have to understand the battle action that took place
here on Stony Hill, or Stony Top, as I've seen it referred. But we're occupying the position taken up
by William Tilton's Brigade. William Tilton and Jacob Sweitzer's brigade
belonged to Barnes' division of the 5th Army Corps and in the aftermath of this battle,
with the whole fallout between Sickles and Meade, well you can imagine there was some
bad blood between 3rd Corps and 5th Corps units. David Birney complained that Sykes's men on
their way south stopped to boil up coffee which I'm not buying. That they didn't get here in time to properly
support the 3rd Corps troops in the Wheatfield. De Trobriand will later complain that the
5th Corps troops do not arrive on the Stony Hill until after Anderson’s men, the Confederates,
had been repulsed. I'm not really buying that either. Tilton will arrive here in position just moments
before Anderson attacked. These two brigades were small. When we talk about Confederate brigades, typically
think between 1600 and 2,000 men, give or take. Some of the Union brigades down in this part
of the field especially-- 600. These are four or five regiments. The Irish Brigade, which we'll talk about,
had approximately 500 men. Tilton and Sweitzer combined would have been
about 1100 soldiers. So Tilton is going to try to crowd onto this
hilltop. Tilton's line is going to begin over here
to the west, you might see the monument to the 118th Pennsylvania in the trees. From there the 1st Michigan, where we're standing
the 22nd Massachusetts, on their left would have been the 32nd Massachusetts from Sweitzer. And these men would have been facing south
in this direction and they would have seen the Confederate troops, especially from G.T.
Anderson, emerge from the trees and climb up over those rail fences that lined the Emmitsburg
Road. You might see the very tops of them from here,
and as G.T. Anderson's brigade got across those rail fences,
men would have fallen with every step they took. All that artillery fire that's coming in from
the Peach Orchard, further to the northwest. Anderson then would have shifted in the trees
and made his way forward, and as long as the Confederates are attacking from the south,
from this direction, this is a good strong position to have. De Trobriand's men are at the base of that
hill along that stone wall, Tilton's men are up here behind them, firing volley after volley
into the trees. Some of the men who are up here left some
pretty vivid accounts. One soldier from the 18th Pennsylvania said
that: "The ground trembled, the trees shook, and the limbs quivered. The enemy appeared through the smoke, they
were moving obliquely, loading and firing as they advanced. Begrimed and dirty looking fellows in all
sorts of garb, some of them without hats, others without coats, none apparently in the
real dress or uniform of a soldier." Another soldier from Massachusetts remembered:
"The musketry was fierce," but even so he remembered distinctly every time a bullet
hit the bell on the Rose family porch. You can imagine that ding rising out from
above the roar. G.T. Anderson fell back after at least twice,
maybe three times, attempting to crack through the Union line, he fell back among the trees,
and the next brigade to appear would have been Kershaw. Kershaw's South Carolinians. This was a rather strong brigade; it had 2200
soldiers in it. And when Kershaw moved forward this battle
once more is going to begin to slide further and further toward the north and west. When William Tilton took his brigade into
position here on Stony Hill he's nervous and understandably so. Because again, as long as the attacks are
coming this way, we're good. But what happens once the attack comes this
way? There is no one between the 118th Pennsylvania
and the soldiers in the Peach Orchard 300 yards away; a gap. Behind us, along the Wheatfield Road is a
strong line of cannons, Phillip's battery, Bigelow's battery and many others that had
been brought up by Henry Hunt from the artillery reserve. So they wheel and unlimber and go into position
along that Wheatfield Road and they blast the approaching Confederate troops, but that's
it. Artillery without infantry support, so Tilton
told Barnes, his divisional commander that he was afraid for his right flank. Barnes agreed with him and said if you ever
feel threatened, withdraw your brigade. So now we enter Kershaw. Kershaw's men moved forward, he was hoping
Barksdale would have advanced with him, but Barksdale doesn't. Barksdale was still about a half hour behind,
through no fault of his own, of course, these are orders coming from the top. When Kershaw went forward from the Seminary
Ridge position and moved his South Carolinians forward they too came under a heavy cannon
fire coming in from the Peach Orchard. Musketry from the skirmishers in the Peach
Orchard tore especially into his left flank. So his men scaled up over the Emmitsburg Road
and here comes G.T. Anderson hoping to link up with the right of Kershaw and the left
of his Georgians and attack this way. But as soon as they got across the road Kershaw
is going to direct the three regiments on the left of his line to turn north and advance
toward that line of cannons up there that's causing so much destruction. So two of Kershaw's regiments continue toward
the Rose farm property here and toward the Stony Hill, the other three will turn and
make their way toward the cannons that line the Wheatfield Road. The cannons will tear into those men. One South Carolinian remembered the sound
of those little black balls passing between our legs, crashing into our bones, snapping
them, and then occurred a tragic misunderstanding of orders. Kershaw would later write that many of the
bravest men of South Carolina fell victims to a fatal blunder. He was trying to direct these two regiments
to move toward their right, but as he was shouting out the orders, as he was giving
the command, somehow an officer from these three regiments heard it. "Move to the right." So they were advancing northward toward those
cannons. Move to your right, meant they turn and now
they're bearing down upon the right flank of Tilton's men, exposing their left flank
to that horrific artillery fire, and the fields to our front would have been covered with
South Carolina troops. But this confusion in orders would lead to
the unraveling of the Union position in the Wheatfield. Why? Because Tilton saw three regiments coming
this way. He was concerned about his right flank already. He had already received orders from Barnes
to withdraw if he felt threatened and that's exactly what he does. He'll take his brigade off of Stony Hill and
retire them to Trostle's woods. Sweitzer will follow suit, leaving de Trobriand
at the base of that hill and along that wall by himself. No overall guiding hand. These are all decisions made regiment by regiment,
brigade by brigade, so imagine then what de Trobriand felt when looked to his right and
he saw the Union army leaving Stony Hill. Kershaw will begin to move in atop Stony Hill
where we're standing, firing down toward Winslow's guns, firing toward the rear of de Trobriand's
men. That is why the confusion in the orders led
to the unraveling of that Wheatfield position. G.T. Anderson will begin to move forward again
through the trees. Now Confederates are closing in on the Wheatfield
from two directions. And we're going to follow Tilton's route as
he withdrew from this hilltop. On the Confederate side, who would you say
is in command here? Is it Longstreet? Is it Hood? McLaws? Kershaw perhaps? Maybe G.T. Anderson before he was wounded? Who's in charge? [audience member] Isn't Hood wounded? [John Hoptak] Hood is wounded, yes, very early
on. [audience member] He's out of the fight? [John Hoptak] He's out of the picture now. So again, it just became this brigade by brigade
and especially on the Union side. Was Dan Sickles in command here? Was Birney in command? Was Sykes? Was Barnes? Look at all the movement that we already saw
where there was no cooperation or coordination between units. De Trobriand's men are along the stone wall
there when Tilton and Sweitzer abandon Stony Hill to their right and rear. Confederate troops got up into this position
and, of course, got behind them. They fell back to Winslow's guns. Confederates began to close in on three sides,
coming from the trees over here to our left, soldiers who had just carried Devil's Den
are now advancing north along these trees. They’re firing from the trees toward the
left flank of Winslow’s gunners. G.T. Anderson's men are hopped over that stone
wall and making their way through the wheat directly toward us. Kershaw here, closing in. Union troops abandon the Wheatfield. They fall back to the Wheatfield Road; that's
where where Birney says buy me some more time. So back comes the Maine and Michigan units,
they fall back, and then, arriving on the field, one more Union push. Caldwell's division arrived, four brigades,
commanded respectively by Edward Cross, Samuel Zook, Patrick Kelly, and John Brooke. When these men arrived, some accounts have
them coming up the Wheatfield Road. The first brigade that arrived was Cross. He will turn his regiments to face south,
advance over the Wheatfield Road, and push into the eastern edge of the Wheatfield. The regiments on his far left, the 5th New
Hampshire, and most of the 148th Pennsylvania are in the trees, pushing back those Confederates
as they advance. The units that were out in the open, you can
see this monument here behind us that little almost square monument, his right flank, they
would have engaged Anderson's division to their front. Heavy, rapid, musketry. But Cross has re-established Union control
on that end of the Wheatfield. The next brigade to arrive and go into the
action, though, will attack Stony Hill. This was Samuel Zook's brigade. They were the third brigade in line moving
south when one of Sickles's staff officers galloped back desperately looking for help,
because now his Peach Orchard was coming under attack. Not only was Kershaw attacking once more from
the south, but Barksdale. Remember Barksdale? Those 1600 Mississippi troops? They were about ready to move forward and
hit the front of the Peach Orchard. So Sickles will send a staff officer who got
Zook out of his divisional command, without talking to Caldwell, and sent him to help
re-establish control here. One of the officers of the 57th New York from
Zook's brigade wrote that: “The mountainside echoed with musketry, the tumult was deafening,
no word of command could be heard and little less seen but long lines of flame and smoke
and struggling masses. We rushed at a double-quick forward into the
mouth of hell and into the jaws of death. The firing became terrific and the slaughter
was frightful.“ Zook's men are going to move through the trees,
The Trostle Woods, get up and over the fences that line the Wheatfield Road and advance
into the trees that line the Stony Hill. In some places the Union and Confederate troops
were right on top of one another. Chaos, confusion, smoke, heavy musketry. Zook is among those shot down. Hit in the stomach, mortally wounded. Edward Cross is down here with his old command,
the 5th New Hampshire. He too is struck down and mortally wounded. The familiar story has him placing a black
bandanna on his head before going into battle. Hancock, the corps commander, said “General,
today will be the day you get your star,” brigadier general. He said, "No sir, today will be my last battle." Did he have a premonition of death, or did
he plan to resign, because he hadn't been promoted yet? Either way Cross will be among those struck
down. The Union army, though, was slowly gaining
control once again of this Wheatfield, and in between Zook and in between Cross, here
comes Patrick Kelly and his Irish brigade, sweeping across the wheat behind us and toward
the Confederates occupying the Stony Hill. They'll hit Kershaw’s men on their right
flank, they'll sweep up and over Stony Hill, overlapping with the left flank of Zook, but
driving Kershaw back to the Rose farm property. So the Union army has now re-established control
of the Wheatfield. There's one more brigade. They're in reserve. John Brooke's men are lined up along the Wheatfield
Road behind us. After Cross went down, the commander of the
81st Pennsylvania assumed command of that brigade, H. Boyd McKeen, and he later wrote
that within ten minutes his men started to run out of bullets. Ten minutes! So he called upon Caldwell and Caldwell seemed
to be the only Union division commander trying to exercise some kind of command down here. My men need ammunition, we need to be relieved,
so Caldwell calls upon Brooke and Brooke will lead his men into the fight. Sweeping across the Wheatfield, they push
ahead of every unit to their left and right. They moved ahead of the Irish Brigade and
Zook, they moved ahead of Cross, they pushed the Confederates all the way back to the Rose
Woods, back across that stone wall, all the way back through the trees. "Brooke's men went in advance, the air was
hot and heavy, smoke was alive, the air alive with death, screaming shells, hissing bullets. Here and there all along the line, men were
dropping and limping toward the rear." So John Rutter Brooke, this young kid from
Philadelphia, leading the brigade, will drive his men through Rose's woods. They advanced well too far. Because when they made their way through the
trees, G.T. Anderson's men are reforming, Kershaw is to
their right by the Rose property, firing now almost behind them, and there's a whole new
fresh brigade of Georgians under Paul Semmes. Remember those wave after wave after wave? So Brooke is desperately trying to hang on
in the distant trees. He sends an officer back to find Caldwell. "My men are catching hell. I need support." Caldwell gallops back to Sweitzer's brigade,
remember Sweitzer? He looks at Sweitzer and he points toward
the trees and he can't understand what he's saying, only that he needs men over there,
we're driving them we need troops. Sweitzer looked at him and said "I don't take
orders from you. You have to find Barnes,” his divisional
commander. So Caldwell turns, he makes his way to the
front of the Trostle Woods where apparently he met Barnes, and Barnes says, "Yes, go get
Sweitzer," so Caldwell has to come back, get Sweizter, and now three more Union regiments,
62nd Pennsylvania, 32nd Massachusetts, and 4th Michigan, move forward from the Wheatfield
Road and advance in this direction heading toward Rose's Woods. They were heading there to give support. Caldwell's not done yet, he’s going to gallop
toward Little Round Top because he could see the next 5th Corps division arriving. Barnes was first, we know what happened there. Coming next, Ayres. Roman Ayres, his leading brigade under Stephen
Weed had been detailed off to Little Round Top, they helped secure,140th New York, Patrick
O'Rorke. But behind Weed, here comes Sidney Burbank,
here comes Hannibal Day, the regulars. The soldiers who made the army their profession,
steady, reliable, and they moved down the direction that we walked to get here, coming
down the Wheatfield Road across that Plum Run Valley. Caldwell gallops back, he met with Ayres and
he says he need support for those men in those trees. Ayres is moving to the west; the soldiers
in the trees are moving to the south. The lines are moving perpendicular to one
another, so Ayres says he will help and he will send his men into the wheat to execute
a large wheeling maneuver and advance this way; hopefully they'll link up with Sweitzer's
men on that end of the Wheatfield. That was the plan, but even as that was being
executed, a staff officer gallops up to those two officers, to Caldwell and Ayres, and when
he could, he said, "General, your men are breaking." Caldwell looked at him, how dare he insult
his men: "You are mistaken. My men are being relieved. They're not breaking." He says, "I don't care what anybody says. Those troops are running." What's happening? Well Brooke is out of bullets, Semmes is bearing
down. But, Barksdale has just crashed through the
Peach Orchard. Sickles's line along the Emmitsburg Road began
to collapse, and behind Barksdale came 1600 Georgians under William Wofford. Barksdale moved forward, he smashed through
the Peach Orchard, he would then direct his regiments north advancing up the Emmitsburg
Road, but Wofford will continue to advance east along the Wheatfield Road. So 1600 Georgians are now bearing down this
way, heading directly toward the right flank, again, of the Union troops on Stony Hill. Zook and Kelly, Kershaw will rejoin the fight. Zook and Kelly abandon Stony Hill. Brooke's men come running out of the Rose
Woods and Sweitzer is down here at the base near that stone wall where the 17th Maine
was earlier, getting bullets in the rear. His men are getting struck in the back. “What does this mean?” he said to one
of his officers. “Well I'll be damned sir, if we're not facing
the wrong way.” Because Confederates are now behind them,
advancing this way through the wheat. Sweitzer's men will turn, they will refuse
their line. One regiment firing south, the other two trying
to fire west into this enclosing line. 50% casualties in the 4th Michigan; 40% casualties
in the 62nd Pennsylvania; 35% in the 32nd Massachusetts, before Sweitzer gave the order,
every man for himself, get out of here. So they came running back across the Wheatfield,
running for their lives. This was just about the same moment the regulars
from Ayres's command were executing or trying to execute this wheeling maneuver. Their right flank is now what? Crushed by these Confederates. Those two brigades of regulars are engaged
for only a short amount of time but they lose nearly 50% of their men in this chaotic closing
chapter of the Wheatfield fight. One of the volunteers up on Little Round Top
wrote later that: “For two years the regulars taught us how to fight like soldiers, and
at the Wheatfield at Gettysburg they taught us how to die like soldiers,” even though
today you very seldom hear about the regulars. The Union line has collapsed. Running to the rear would have been elements
of 5th Corps troops, 3rd Corps troops, 2nd Corps troops, all caught up in this great
retreat. And once more pushing through the trees and
pushing through the wheat, victorious soldiers from Georgia. G.T. Anderson's men were still there. They're the only unit North or South to be
engaged in every moment of the three-hour Wheatfield fight. Behind them, soldiers from Semme's brigade,
Benning, Kershaw, and Wofford, closing down, bearing down behind us, they're now heading
toward the north end of Little Round Top and yes, by now the south end has been secured;
Chamberlain did his thing, and Vincent did his thing over there, but that didn't mean
the battle for Little Round Top was over yet, it just means that those attacks were repulsed. These Confederates are still heading that
way, heading back toward Cemetery Ridge and Little Round Top behind us. One more stop, hopefully before this storm
hits. Cause I felt the temperature drop. So let's go get this done. Alright, one more stop. Ten more minutes. Then the rain will come. Okay. It took a while. It took a while, but these Confederate troops
were finally able to dislodge the Union men from the Wheatfield. And if we had been here as the afternoon turned
into the evening, one small part of the field, remember that quote I read at the very beginning
the soldier, the officer? All he knows about the battlefield is what's
happening around him. But in a larger scale, behind you, the Peach
Orchard had collapsed, Barksdale's men are advancing up the Emmitsburg Road, Cadmus Wilcox's
Alabama troops are now moving forward to hit the front of Humphreys. On the other side of the battlefield Richard
Ewell's cannons are bombarding East Cemetery Hill, preparing for his attack on the other
end of the Union line. And in front us, atop Little Round Top, the
soldiers of Strong Vincent and Stephen Weed's brigade and Hazlett's battery have secured
the top and the south side. In front of you also: running men, soldiers,
both regulars and volunteers. As the regulars retreated across these fields
and back toward the northern shoulder of Round Top, they looked toward their front and they
saw artillerymen from Ohio waving their caps to get down, get down. These men from Ohio, Gibbs's battery, had
gone into position on the northern shoulder. They had their cannons ready-loaded with canister. Get down, get down, and they will fire into
the Confederates who are right behind them. Because closing in and advancing in this direction
also: Georgia, South Carolina, Wofford's men, all bearing down this way. Union guns would have fired toward them, and
then sweeping down the hillside a fresh wave of Union blue. George Meade was the new army commander and
at about three o'clock that afternoon, he had the first great crisis as army commander. He ordered the 5th Corps south, ordered Warren
to Round Top, ordered Hancock to send help. The 5th Corps arrived division by division,
Barnes, Ayres, and finally Crawford. The monument to Samuel Crawford you might
see just rising above the brush, holding the flag. When Crawford’s division arrived he sent
one brigade to give more support to the other side of Little Round Top. He led his other brigade under William McCandless
down the slope and directly toward the oncoming Confederate troops, and for many of these
Confederates it was simply too much. They had been fighting all afternoon. Terrible fighting, heavy fighting. G.T. Anderson's casualties were tremendous. In some units he lost over 60%. There was little left in the tank, but there
is a fresh wave. What about Wofford's men? Those 1600 Georgians who had followed behind
Barksdale? They're bearing down along the Wheatfield
Road. They're ready for a fight. Longstreet himself led them toward the Emmitsburg
Road. The men cheered him along and in typical Longstreet
fashion he looked at them and said, "Cheer less, men, and fight more," and that's what
they wanted to do, but now Longstreet will stop them. Longstreet sent an order for Wofford to cease
his advance, to cease his attack, because as Longstreet wrote in his memoirs, he knew
the sound of fresh troops arriving. McCandless's brigade was here and another
unit had arrived, much larger; the 13,000 men of the Union 6th Corps. After marching 35 miles overnight, they'll
begin to arrive that afternoon and they are sent to help restore the left. The Confederate attack ended and the Confederates
will take position in Houck's Ridge and Devil's Den, in Rose's Woods and on the Stony Hill. In between the Union line and this new Confederate
line: carnage, destruction, soldiers in blue and gray intermingled and lying one on top
of the other in this 26-acre field of wheat. All the back and forth fighting that we talked
about. There were kepis in that Wheatfield that had
the diamond of the 3rd Corps, kepis that had the cross of the 5th Corps, and the trefoil
of the 2nd Corps. There were slouch-caps from these men from
Texas and Georgia, kepis from officers in South Carolina, all mixed and inter-mingled
among the wheat. A desolate place. One of the Confederates from the 11th Georgia
remembered that: “The rout of the Union army was vigorously pressed to the very foot
of the mountain and nothing but the exhausted condition of the men prevented them carrying
the heights.” Nothing but their exhausted condition and
those freshly arriving waves of Union reinforcements. The battle of the Wheatfield must certainly
rank among the most chaotic and confusing fights here at Gettysburg in all three days. A lot of soldiers suffered, a lot of men gave
their lives in this field of wheat. The Union line was ultimately pushed back,
and the Confederates took up the position that Sickles did earlier that day, only they
were now facing east. It was a lot of ground to gain with a lot
of bodies to pay for it, and in the end, the Union army was simply driven back where? Where they should have been in the first place. So I want to thank you so much for coming
out on my battle walk, I hope you enjoyed it, we do have more programs coming up this
evening, please do take advantage. Thank you everybody.
