Battle of Gettysburg

A detailed Summary of Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg is without question the most well known battle of the Civil War. Evidence of this is the Civil War reenactments, which take place the same days of the battle year after year. This paper will discuss the movements during the latter half of the Battle of Gettysburg such as the Wheatfield, The Peach Orchard, and Pickett's Charge.

The Wheatfield lays halfway between Little Round Top and the Peach Orchard, it's an area of approximately 25 acres, which is bordered on the north and south by woodlands, and to the west there is a wooded rocky outcrop known as Stony Hill. The Wheatfield and Stony Hill formed the center of the battle line of Union General David Birney's division of Sickle's 3rd Corp. There were 3 brigades involved on the Union side in this battle. Under the command of General Hobart Ward was the left hand brigade holding Houck's Ridge and the Valley of Death, in the center under command of Colonel Regis de Trobriand was the center brigade holding the Wheatfield and Stony Hill. Lastly on the right side there was General Charles Graham at the edge of the Peach Orchard.

As the Confederate's under General Hood's division attacked Devil's Den and Little Round Top another brigade from the 3rd Ark

Union forces mustered 3,300 troops into 4 brigades, 3 were sent along the east edge of the Wheatfield and stormed onto Stony Hill overcoming Confederate forces and driving them back. The last brigade was sent straight across the Wheatfield and into the Rose Woods behind it, the Georgians there were sent reeling into the Peach Orchard and in little over an hour of intense fighting the Union regained most of the ground lost over the course of the day.

Looking back at the Union side de Trobiand's troops were up against the ropes. After fighting off the southerners of the 3rd Arkansas they were left with roughly a third of their fighting force, in the last engagement nearly 500 were killed or wounded out of 1400 engaged. Two additional Union brigades were sent to the assistance and reached him without much resistance. At this point in the engagement all Union forces were trying to fall back and regroup, with the loss of Ward's command on Houck's Ridge the Confederates were in control of the 3rd Corps line from Devil's Den to Stony Hill. This didn't last for long as the Union forces were coming on the counteroffensive.

The battle for the Peach Orchard was no less deadly for both sides. General Layfayette McLaws commanded the second division of Longstreet's Corps. He was a solid Georgian who was known more for a strong defense rather then an aggressive offense, but on this day his forces attacked like tigers. He sent two brigades to fight for Stony Hill and the Wheatfield while his other regiments were advancing into artillery fire from the Peach Orchard. Thirty Union cannons blasted gigantic holes in the Confederate Lines, but they did not falter. While marching towards the cannons an officer misheard a command and turned these forces to the right, exposing their flank to the Union artillery. The Confederate line was torn apart, and the su

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Approximate Word count = 1256
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History