Dog Company
Little Round Top Panorama
This panorama was taken looking to the south, west and north. Just for a point of reference, the 20th Maine were behind me to my left off camera and their charge went down towards the area leading to that road on the left. Also, off camera to the left is Big Round Top.
The fight for Little Round Top was as harrowing as it gets for the Union. A Union general, Brig. Gen. Governeur K. Warren, came up Little Round Top to get a look at the battlefield and from a position down to the right of my point here, he saw a large force of Longstreet's men moving across from the woods off to the left and center, known as Warfield Ridge. Those trees hid the southerners from view. Realizing that the Union line was about to be outflanked, he sent an urgent message down the line and, literally just in time, men were rushed to this point where the timing was so tight, that many of them actually did not have time to load their weapons and they immediately charged southerners coming up the hill. If that repulse had not occurred, the whole Union army would have been outflanked and likely routed. We're talking seconds and the actions of company-sized units. Colonel Strong Vincent, upon hearing about the absence of men on Little Round Top immediately turned his men towards the top and they ran up. Vincent led from the front, and while there, he positioned Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on the far left flank. Colonel Vincent was killed along with several other officers, including the artillery commander, Hazlett. The fighting on this hill was ferocious and often hand to hand. Ultimately, out of ammunition, undermanned and facing another attack, Colonel Chamberlain led the surviving men of his 20th Maine in a bayonet charge down the mountain and the southern attack was finally broken.
Here are some other notes. The Devil's Den is visible to the left (I placed a note) just past where the road meets those trees on the left. To the left of the Devil's Den is the Slaughter Pen, which was photographed by Brady after the battle. The woods beyond the Devil's Den is the area where a Union general ordered a cavalry charge on July 3rd. The area is all rocky hills and their commander thought the attack was suicidal. When the order was confirmed, he said to the General, "these men are too good to kill." The cavalry unit was shot to pieces and the disbelieving commander was killed. Off to the right of center is the Peach Orchard and off to the right is where Pickett's Charge occurred, way in the distance
Little Round Top Panorama
This panorama was taken looking to the south, west and north. Just for a point of reference, the 20th Maine were behind me to my left off camera and their charge went down towards the area leading to that road on the left. Also, off camera to the left is Big Round Top.
The fight for Little Round Top was as harrowing as it gets for the Union. A Union general, Brig. Gen. Governeur K. Warren, came up Little Round Top to get a look at the battlefield and from a position down to the right of my point here, he saw a large force of Longstreet's men moving across from the woods off to the left and center, known as Warfield Ridge. Those trees hid the southerners from view. Realizing that the Union line was about to be outflanked, he sent an urgent message down the line and, literally just in time, men were rushed to this point where the timing was so tight, that many of them actually did not have time to load their weapons and they immediately charged southerners coming up the hill. If that repulse had not occurred, the whole Union army would have been outflanked and likely routed. We're talking seconds and the actions of company-sized units. Colonel Strong Vincent, upon hearing about the absence of men on Little Round Top immediately turned his men towards the top and they ran up. Vincent led from the front, and while there, he positioned Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on the far left flank. Colonel Vincent was killed along with several other officers, including the artillery commander, Hazlett. The fighting on this hill was ferocious and often hand to hand. Ultimately, out of ammunition, undermanned and facing another attack, Colonel Chamberlain led the surviving men of his 20th Maine in a bayonet charge down the mountain and the southern attack was finally broken.
Here are some other notes. The Devil's Den is visible to the left (I placed a note) just past where the road meets those trees on the left. To the left of the Devil's Den is the Slaughter Pen, which was photographed by Brady after the battle. The woods beyond the Devil's Den is the area where a Union general ordered a cavalry charge on July 3rd. The area is all rocky hills and their commander thought the attack was suicidal. When the order was confirmed, he said to the General, "these men are too good to kill." The cavalry unit was shot to pieces and the disbelieving commander was killed. Off to the right of center is the Peach Orchard and off to the right is where Pickett's Charge occurred, way in the distance