Section #1 - Three Days At Gettysburg
Chapter 29: Day Two: 6:20–7:00 PM
The final component of the en echelon strategy begins around 6:20PM and features two of Hill’s Divisions under Generals Cadmus Willcox and Ambrose “Rans” Wright. They cross the Pike north of McLaws and head toward the crest of Cemetery Ridge.
Hancock spots the advance and recognizes that in moving Caldwell’s troops to support the Wheatfield defense, all that remains in the way of the oncoming grey brigades is A.A. Humphrey’s thin command. The moment is saved only by the appearance of the 1st Minnesota brigade, 262 men under Col. William Colville.
They hold for ten minutes despite Colville being killed and 215 others either dead or wounded. In that interim, members of General John Gibbon’s Division arrive on the scene.
Wilcox actually reaches the top of Cemetery Ridge, but his call for reinforcements is unmet – in part due to command confusion between Longstreet and Hill. The result is that Longstreet’s Tige Anderson stays put, while Hill’s William Mahone insists that his orders were not to engage.
Added disarray traces to a leg wound suffered by General William Pender, which requires amputation and leads to his death two weeks later from post-surgery infection. His successor, James Lane, observes the fight on the Ridge without clear orders, and, like Mahone, decides to abstain.
This leaves the unaccompanied Wilcox with no choice but to retreat.
By around 7:00 PM the Day 2 battles on the rebel right are over. Longstreet later says: “I do not hesitate to pronounce this the best three hours of fighting ever done by any troops on any battlefield.”
Some 22,000 Confederates have tried to conquer 40,000 Union troops while losing 7,000 men. What began as a rigid plan delivered to Longstreet by Lee breaks down when Sickles appears along Emmetsburg Pike. Communication failures and fatalities contribute to the setback.
All that remains then on Day Two is Ewell’s evening attack on Culp’s Hill.
