Chapter 18: Day One: 2:30 PM

An uncertain General Lee finally arrives on the field around 2:30 PM on July1.

A major battle has been going on for several hours, and, absent contact with Stuart, he remains unaware of which Union armies he is facing.

When a culpable Heth rides up to encourage Lee to continue to attack, he hesitates, especially because Longstreet’s I Corps is not yet present. His mind changes, however, when he spots Rode’s troops driving a wedge between Doubleday and Howard’s line. At that point he waves everyone forward.

The Iron Brigade is quickly overrun, losing 1200 of its original 1800 men. Despite this, their heroism has slowed the Confederate tide and given the time needed by the Union to continue the fight.

When Rodes is joined by II Corps forces under General Jubal Early, they send the blue clad soldiers of Howard’s XI Corps fleeing, just as they had at Chancellorsville.

In a last ditch attempt to stem this rout, youthful General Francis Barlow is shot from his horse and left for dead until the Confederates send him to a hospital tent, where he is later retrieved.

No such valor is shown by General Alexander Schimmelfennig, a Prussian émigré, who ends up hiding in a woodshed in town for the next three days. Unlike a local farmer, 69 year old John Burns, who picks up his musket and fights alongside the Iron Brigade. He is wounded and captured but escapes being shot as a spy by claiming innocence.