161 Years Ago - Three Days of Sacrifice .2
On the second day of the battle the North barely held critical positions narrowly escaping a devestating defeat. The Union held on to Culp’s Hill by the thinnest of margins but the situation improved late in the day. So the that flank was secure. General Sykes advanced his troops from Cemetery Hill against orders and was beaten badly at the Peach Orchard, Rose Hill and the Wheat Field. His troops escaped only because of the sacrifice of almost an entire undermanned regiment of volunteers who charged into a gap in the line and allowed time for Sykes to regroup behind the original line. Meanwhile the flank was not secure and General Warren on his own, an engineer arriving at the field, ascended Little Round Top found it unmanned and saw Southern Troops massing to take the height which would have possibly ended the battle. He rushed troops to the top who arrived minutes before the South and saved and secured the flank. The 20th Maine troops are memorialized in the film Gettysburg because of their action on the flank of Little Round Top.
Little Round Top, That is the NY monument with General Warren’s statue standing on the rock. The white building left of cente, t hat appears to have a hat, is the Pennsylvania monument, located at the center of the Union battle line on day three and shows the strategic importance of these rocks. The “hat” is the old cyclorama that is now at the visitor’s center.
General Meade arrived in the middle of the night and set up headquarters here. His strategic alignment of his troops was well done and aided greatly in the battle’s outcome.