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 BRIEF SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Battle of Gettysburg 
 
 BY 
 
 BREVET BRIG.-GEN. CHARLES HAMLIN 
 
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 BRIEF SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Battle of Gettysburg 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
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 MAINE AT GETTYSBURG 
 
 Brevet Brk;.-Gen. Charles Hamlin 
 
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THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBUEG. 
 
 BY BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL CHARLES HAMLIN, 
 
 LATE ASSISTANT ADJUTANT GENERAL, 
 SECOND DIVISION THIRD ARMY CORPS, ARMY OF POTOMAC. 
 
 A BRIEF sketch of this battle will enable the reader to under- 
 stand the operations of both Union and Confederate 
 troops given in detail, as they appear in the various 
 accounts of the battle, hereafter in this volume. Such a sketch, 
 indeed, is necessary for the general reader who desires a con- 
 nected account, ])ecause the main })urpose of this volume is to 
 give a particular account of the various regiments and batteries 
 of the State of Maine, rather than a single and connected view. 
 
 An invasion of the North was determined upon by the Con- 
 federate authorities soon after the battle of Chancellorsville in 
 May, 1863. It seems evident now that the causes which led 
 to this invasion were, that the term of many of the Union sol- 
 diers was expiring ; the late defeat at Chancellorsville ; and 
 the hope and expectation to capture Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
 and Washington, which might end the war through a recogni- 
 tion of the Confederacy by foreign governments, followed by 
 their intervention. 
 
 On the second of June, Lee began his movement north 
 with the withdrawal of his army from Fredericksburg. On 
 the eighth, Ewell and Longstreet arrived at Culpeper, to 
 which place Stuart had already advanced his cavalry. General 
 Hooker, on June 5th, ordered a reconnaissance below Freder- 
 icksburg, suspecting some important movement by General 
 Lee. On the eighth, Pleasonton's cavalry and two brigades 
 of infantry were ordered across the Rappahannock. On the 
 morning of the ninth these forces crossed the river and attacked 
 Stuart's cavalry at Brandy Station. Here occurred the first 
 
2 MAINE AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 successful fight by our cavalry when engaged in a large body. 
 The First Maine Cavalry under Kilpatrick was engaged in 
 this battle in desperate conflict and in which it bore itself with 
 great credit. This struggle at Brandy vStation ended in defeat- 
 ing and driving the Confederate cavalry from the field ; but on 
 the arrival of EwelTs infantry from Culpeper, Pleasonton 
 withdrew his forces and recrossed the river. By the capture 
 of Sttiart's headquarters Lee's orders were found that showed 
 his movement was north beyond the Union lines. 
 
 On the tenth, EwelVs corps advanced beyond the Blue 
 Ridge, passed north through Chester Gap, and marched rapidly 
 up the Shenandoah Valley. /Stuarts cavalry was directed east 
 of the Blue Ridge, to guard the passes, mask Lee's movements, 
 and delay the advance of Hooker's army. On the fourteenth, 
 EiveU attacked General Milroy at Winchester, who was 
 hemmed in without definite information of the movement of 
 Lee's army up the valley. Milroy attempted early in the 
 morning of the fifteenth to steal his way out, and although 
 discovered by the Confederates, succeeded in breaking through 
 and retreated in haste, with heavy losses in men and material. 
 
 Hill and Longstreet hurried northward, the latter covering 
 the mountain gaps in his movements. On the sixteenth, Jen- 
 kins with two thousand Confederate cavalry penetrated into 
 Pennsylvania as far as Chambersburg. 
 
 June 13th, Hooker put the Union army in motion and 
 kept his command between the enemy and Washington. 
 Pleasonton's cavalry encountered that of Stuart's on the sev- 
 enteenth at Aldie ; and on the nineteenth at Middleburg and 
 on the twenty-first at Upperville. On each of these fields the 
 First Maine Regiment of Cavalry won new honors. After a 
 severe engagement at Upperville the Confederate cavalry fell 
 back through Ashby's Gap, and Pleasonton rejoined the 
 infantry. Lee now seemed convinced that Hooker would not 
 attack him south of the Potomac ; and on the twenty-second 
 he ordered Eivell to cross the river into Maryland, where he 
 came to the support of Jenkins, who being reinforced 
 advanced again to Chambersburg. Here Rodes' and Johnson's 
 divisions joined him on the twenty-third. Early's division, 
 
LEES INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA. 3 
 
 in the meantime, moved via Gettysburg to York with instruc- 
 tions to destroy the raih'oads and secure the bridge across the 
 Susquehanna, after wliich he moved north and undertook with 
 Ilodes and Johnmn to take possession of Harrisburg. On the 
 twenty-third, Lee ordered Hill and Long street across the Poto- 
 mac to unite at Hagerstown, and follow EwelVs corps up the 
 Cumberland valley. 
 
 When Hooker learned that Lee was concentrating his forces 
 north of the Potomac, he advanced the Union army on a line 
 parallel with that of the enemy. On the twenty-fifth and 
 twenty-sixth, the Union army having crossed the Potomac, 
 was massed between Harper's Ferry and Frederick City. On 
 the twenty-sixth, Gordon's brigade of Earh/s division passed 
 through the town of Gettysburg, and on the twenty-eighth 
 Earh/s division reached York and Wrightsville. Gordon's 
 brigade was prevented from crossing the Susquehanna by the 
 destruction of the bridge at Wrightsville. On the twenty- 
 eighth, Gen. George G. Meade was appointed to the com- 
 mand of the Union anny, to succeed Hooker, who had asked, 
 in the meantime, to be relieved. The immediate cause of 
 Hooker's resignation arose from the refusal of Halleck, Gen- 
 eral-in-chief , to give Hooker the control of ten thousand men 
 under French at Harper's Ferry. Meade at once ordered the 
 Union forces northward, placed his left wing, consisting of the 
 First, Third, and Eleventh corps, under Reynolds, directing 
 him to Emmitsburg, and advanced his right wing to New 
 Windsor. At this time the cavalry was disposed as follows : 
 Buford on the left, Kilpatrick in front, and Gregg on the 
 right. Stuart had separated himself from Lee's infantry in 
 Virginia, and set off on a raid around the right of the Union 
 army on the twenty-fourth. He crossed the Potomac on the 
 twenty-seventh, in rear of Hooker, intending to rejoin Lee by 
 marching through Maryland. On the thirtieth he encountered 
 Kilpatrick's cavalry at Hanover, where a short and spirited 
 struggle ensued, in which Stuart was forced to retreat north- 
 ward, at the same time abandoning some of his trains contain- 
 ing captured property. On the next day, July 1st, he reached 
 Carlisle, where he learned that Eiuell had moved south towards 
 
4 MAINE AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 Gettysburg. He bombarded Carlisle with shell, burned the 
 government barracks, and then moved south, via Mount Holly 
 Gap, and did not arrive on the battlefield until the afternoon 
 of July 2d, having been separated seven days from General 
 Lee. The absence of Stuarfs cavalry proved to be disadvan- 
 tageous to General Lee, who did not know until the evening of 
 the twenty-eighth, while at Chambersliurg, that Hooker had 
 crossed the Potomac into Maryland. Lee still believed that 
 Hooker was in Virginia, held there in check by Stuarf. 
 
 Lee at once began to concentrate his army, sent Lwell 
 orders to retire from Carlisle and to recall his troops near Har- 
 risburg. Rodes' and Early's divisions were ordered to join 
 Hilfs corps in the vicinity of Gettysburg, while Jo/mson's divis- 
 ion with the artillery and trains approached the Chambersburg 
 Pike via Shippensburg and Fayetteville. HiWs and EiceWs 
 corps, on the thirtieth, advanced towards Gettysburg. Petti- 
 grew'' s brigade, on the same day, was ordered with several 
 wagons to Gettysburg to secure clothing and shoes. 
 
 POSITION OF THE UNION ARMY, 
 
 ON THK EVENING OF JUNE 30, 1863, TO THE SOUTH AND EAST, 
 AND DISTANT FROM GETTTSBURG. 
 
 First Corps, Doubleday (Second and Fifth Maine Batteries 
 and Sixteenth Maine Regiment with this Corps), Marsh Creek, 
 
 5 1-2 miles south. Second Corps, Hancock (Nineteenth Maine 
 Regiment with this Corps), Uniontown, 20 miles south. Third 
 Corps, Sickles (Third, Fourth, and Seventeenth Maine Regi- 
 ments with this Corps), Bridgeport, 12 miles south. Fifth 
 Corps, Sykes (Twentieth Maine Regiment with this Corps), 
 Union Mills, 16 miles southeast. Sixth Corps, Sedgwick 
 (Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Maine Regiments with this Corps) , 
 Manchester, 34 miles southeast. Eleventh Corps, Howard, 
 Emmitsburg, 10 miles south. Twelfth Corps, Slocum (Tenth 
 Maine Battalion at Corps headquarters) , Littlestown, 10 miles 
 southeast. Buford's cavalry, two brigades. Gamble's and 
 Devin's, at Gettysburg. Merritt's (Regular) Brigade, Mechan- 
 icstown, 18 miles south. Gregg's cavalry (First Maine 
 Regiment with Gregg) , Westminster, 34 miles southeast. Kil- 
 patrick's cavalry, Hanover, 14 miles east. 
 
MOVING TOWARDS GETTYSBURG. 5 
 
 Dow's Sixth Maine Battery was with the Fourth Brigade 
 of the reserve artillery, at Taneytown, 12 miles south. Co. D, 
 2d U. S. Sharpshooters was with the Tliird Corps. 
 
 General Meade's orders for July 1st were, for the First and 
 Eleventh corps to move to Gettysburg, the Third to Emmits- 
 burg, the Second to Taneytown, the Fifth to Hanover, and the 
 Twelfth to Two Taverns ; the Sixth was left at Manchester. 
 
 POSITION OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY, 
 
 ON THK BYBNING OF JONB 30, 1863, ^fORTH AND WEST, AND 
 DISTANT FROM GKTTYSBURQ. 
 
 First Corps, Longstreefs^ at Chambersburg, 25 miles 
 northwest. Second Corps, EivelVs: divisions, Early's, near 
 Heidlersburg, 12 miles northeast ; Rodes\ Heidlersburg, 10 
 miles northeast ; Johnson's, Vicimij of Fayetteville, 21 miles 
 northwest. Third Corps, HiWs: divisions, Andei'son's, Fay- 
 etteville, 18 miles northwest ; Pender's, near Cashtown, 10 
 miles northwest ; Heth's, at Cashtown, 8 miles northwest ; 
 Pettigrew's brigade, at Marsh Creek, 3 1-2 miles northwest ; 
 Stuarfs cavalry, near Dover, 21 miles northeast. 
 
 General Lee's orders to Hill and Longstreet, for July 1st, 
 were, for Heth's division with eight batteries to occupy Gettys- 
 burg, Pender's division to move promptly to Heth's support. 
 Longstreet was to follow tliis movement with McLaws' and 
 Hood's divisions. 
 
 Buford's cavalry division, on the left of the Union army, 
 was approaching Gettj^sburg June 30th, on the Emmitsburg 
 Road, and encountered Pettigrew's brigade entering the town 
 from the west. Pettigrew fell back towards Cashtown to a 
 position on Marsh Run, where he notified Hetli, to whose 
 division he belonged, that Gettysburg was occupied by the 
 Union forces. Buford's cavalry passed through the town of 
 Gettysburg about half -past eleven o'clock in the forenoon. 
 Halting west of Seminary ridge he went into camp, with 
 Gamble's brigade south of the railroad to cover the approaches 
 from Chambersburg and Hagerstown. Devin's brigade went 
 to the north of the railroad, posting his videttes on all the 
 roads north and northwest. Buford sent information to Rey- 
 nolds of the presence of the enemy ; and Reynolds, who was 
 
b MAINE AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 instructed to occupy Gettysburg, advanced the First Corps 
 from Emmitsburg to Marsh Creek, about five and one-half 
 miles from Gettysburg. Meade moved his right wing forward 
 to Manchester. On the night of the thirtieth, Buford held a 
 conference with Reynolds at Marsh Creek, and returned, during 
 the night, to his headquarters in Gettysburg with one of Rey- 
 nolds' staff, who was to report to his chief early in the morning 
 of the next day. 
 
 At this time, Lee appears to have been fearful that his 
 communications might be interrupted, and he was troubled by 
 the naked defenses of Richmond. Zee, therefore, determined 
 to draw back and make a diversion east of the South Mountain 
 range to engage Meade's attention. Although Lee's plan of 
 invasion had been thwarted, he determined to defeat Meade's 
 army. On the other hand, Meade, having selected the general 
 line of Pipe Creek for his defense, had thrown his left wing, 
 preceded by Buford's cavalry, forward to Gettysburg as a 
 mask. Both generals aimed to secure Gettysburg for the 
 reason that it controlled the roads towards the Potomac. Its 
 occupation by the Union army proved to be of great impor- 
 tance when we consider the subsequent events. 
 
 FIRST DAY. 
 
 The first day's battle was fought on the west and north of 
 Gettysburg. It began with Buford's cavalry holding back the 
 enemy's infantry beyond and along Willoughby Run until the 
 arrival of the First Corps, followed by the Eleventh Corps. 
 A severe engagement, especially along the front of the First 
 Corps, ensued, in which Reynolds lost his life ; and the Union 
 forces, under Howard, were driven from the field after Ewell 
 came from the north. Hall's Second Maine Battery opened 
 the infantry fight as soon as it arrived on the ground and was 
 placed in position north of the Chambersburg Pike. The prin- 
 cipal fighting by the Confederates along the front of the First 
 Corps was by two divisions of HiWs corps, who did not 
 succeed after several attacks until reinforced by Ewell. It 
 was then that the Sixteenth Maine Regiment was ordered to 
 
FIRST DAY OF BATTLE. 7 
 
 take position on the extreme right of the Fu'st Corps, at the 
 Mummasburg Road, and to hold the enemy in check so that 
 the remnant of the division might fall back ; and thus, under 
 imperative orders to stay there at all hazards, it was delivered 
 to the enemy by relentless capture. 
 
 Stevens' Fifth Maine Battery, which occupied a position 
 near the Lutheran Seminary, was sharply engaged during HilVs 
 final assault, and aided by its rapid and severe fire in checking 
 the enemy. The two corps of the Union army fell back 
 through the town of Gettysburg, with heavy loss, but were 
 not vigorously pursued by the enemy. The check given to 
 the enemy's advance by the hard and desperate fighting of the 
 First Corps led to results worth all the sacrifice ; but to this 
 day full credit has hardly been given to the gi'eat services 
 rendered by that corps, familiar as we all are with the fearful 
 losses inflicted upon it. The remnants of the two corps fell 
 back upon Cemetery Hill, which lies to the south of the village 
 of Gettysburg, and there awaited the arrival of the remainder 
 of our army. 
 
 The chief features of the ground occupied by the Union 
 army during the remainder of the battle, July 2d and 3d, may 
 be described briefly as follows : South of Gettysburg there is 
 a chain of hills and bluffs shaped like a fish-hook. At the 
 east, which we will call the barb of the hook, is Gulp's Hill ; 
 and turning to the west is Cemetery Hill, which we will call 
 the shank, running north and south until it terminates near a 
 slope in a rocky, wooded peak called Round Top, having Little 
 Round Top as a spur. The credit of selecting tliis position 
 has been equally claimed by both Hancock and Howard. At 
 Hancock's suggestion Meade brought the army forward from 
 Pipe Creek to secure it. 
 
 Lee, having arrived at Seminary Ridge with his troops near 
 the close of the first day's battle, made an examination of the 
 field and left Ewell to decide for himself how far he should 
 follow up the attack upon the Union army at the east of the 
 town at the close of the first day's battle. At this time LJivell, 
 observing the strong position occupied by the Union forces 
 upon Gulp's Hill by the arrival of the Twelfth Corps under 
 
is MAINE AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 Slocum, decided not to make an attack. Cemetery Hill at the 
 same time was well occupied by infantry and artillery. 
 
 On the second day Lee determined to assume the offensive 
 and resolved to give battle, although it seems that when he 
 opened his campaign he had declared that it should be an 
 offensive-defensive one. Probably his success on the first day 
 may have induced the belief that a change from his original 
 plan was well warranted. He was also influenced by the belief 
 that the attacking party has the moral advantage, and in the 
 light of his experience at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville 
 he thought he could succeed. Longstreet urged liim to move 
 around the Union left, and manoeuvre Meade out of liis posi- 
 tion by threatening his communications with "Washington ; but 
 he declined to accept the advice. 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 On the morning of the second, Lees general line was in 
 concave order of battle, fronting the Union amiy, parallel to 
 Cemetery Hill, and about a mile distant, with his left thrown 
 to the east and through the town to a point opposite Culp's 
 Hill. Longstreet was on his right, occupying Seminary Ridge, 
 and about a mile distant from Cemetery Hill, with Hill in the 
 centre and Eicell on the left. 
 
 The Union position was in the following order, beginning 
 on the right : Slocum on Culp's Hill ; Howard on Cemetery 
 Hill ; Newton, who succeeded Doubleday, commanding the 
 First Corps ; Hancock ; and Sickles ; the latter occupying the 
 low gi'ound between Hancock on his right and Little Round 
 Top on his left. The Twelfth Corps had come upon the 
 ground after the fighting of the first day. The Second Corps 
 arrived on the morning of the second day. Graham's and 
 Ward's brigades of the First Division of the Third Corps came 
 upon the ground about seven o'clock on the night of the first 
 day, followed by two brigades of the Second Division late in 
 the niofht. One brio:ade from each division, left at Emm its- 
 burg with artillery to guard the mountain pass, came up to 
 Gettysburg in the forenoon of the second. The Fifth and 
 and Sixth corps, by a hard night's march, arrived upon the 
 
SECOND DAY OF BATTLE. if 
 
 ground the second day. The morning of the second day was 
 occupied by Meade in strengthening his position and watching 
 for Lee's attack. He believed that Lee would attack him on 
 the right of our line, and prepared to move against Lee from 
 that point. He finally decided to remain on the defensive. 
 
 Lee having perfected his plans, directed Lo7igstreet, with 
 his two divisions, then upon the field, consisting of more than 
 15,000 men, to attack a salient thrown out by Sickles from the 
 general line on our left at the Emmitsburg Road. Neither army 
 then occupied Round Top and Longstreet endeavored to capture 
 it by extending his right in that direction. Sickles' thin line, 
 of less than 10,000 men, resisted Longstreet for thi-ee hours 
 along the front of the Third Corps position ; the main fighting 
 of the First Division being from 4 : 15 to 6 : 30 p. m., and of the 
 Second Division from G to 8 p. m. Towards the last of it, on 
 both fronts, other troops came to the assistance of the Third 
 Corps. A portion of the Fifth Corps, thrown into the support 
 of Sickles, after a desperate struggle, secured Round Top : and 
 though Longstreet forced Sickles back from his salient rein- 
 forced by troops from the Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Twelfth 
 corps, he secured only a small benefit commensurate with liis 
 loss after a long and bloody engagement lasting from 4 o'clock 
 p. M. until it was dark and late in the night. 
 
 The centre of the Union line was occupied by the Second 
 Corps, under Hancock, who assumed command of the left soon 
 after Sickles was wounded. The Nineteenth Maine Regiment, 
 under Colonel Heath, assisted in repulsing the attack of Hill 
 at the close of the day, and made a charge driving the enemy 
 beyond the Emmitsburg Road, recapturing the guns of one of 
 our batteries which had been abandoned. The casualties of the 
 regiment in killed and wounded exceed those of any other 
 Maine regiment on this field. 
 
 In the Third Corps position between Round Top and the 
 Peach Orchard on the Emmitsburg Road, the Fourth Maine 
 Regiment, Col. Elijah Walker, was in the Devil's Den ; the 
 Seventeenth, Lieut. -Col. Charles B. Merrill, was in the Wheat- 
 field ; and the Third Maine, Col. Moses B. Lakeman, was in 
 the anffle of the salient at the Peach Orchard. 
 
10 MAINE AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 The I ourth Maine, Avith gi*eat sacrifice, successfully repelled 
 a determined attempt of Law to gain the rear of Birney, and 
 by counter charges was largely instrumental in holding back 
 the overwhelming forces brought against Devil's Den until our 
 lines were established farther back. The Seventeenth Maine, 
 substantially alone, held the Wheatlield against successive 
 onslaughts of thrice its numbers of the veterans of Longstreet 
 until it was relieved by Hancock's troops, after more than two 
 hours of fighting, in which it sustained a loss of one-third of 
 its strength in killed and wounded. The Third Maine with 
 two other regiments in the Peach Orchard defeated the fierce 
 attacks of Kershaid's South Carolinians upon the south front 
 of that position, and held the ground until the enemy gained 
 the rear of the Orchard, nearly surrounding the small remnant 
 of the command. 
 
 When Longstreet^ late in the day, was forcing the Union 
 troops back upon our main line with the help of Hill, who 
 aided to dislodge the Second Division of the Tliird Corps from 
 the Emmitsburg Road, the reserve artillery under Major 
 McGilvery assisted in repelling the enemy's final attack. The 
 Sixth Battery, under Lieut. E. B. Dow, took part in the stand 
 then made and enabled our infantry to re-form. 
 
 On the extreme left of the Union line was the Twentieth 
 Maine Regiment, under Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain. His 
 regiment was on the left of the Fifth Corps troops that took 
 possession of Little Round Top and prevented the enemy, after 
 desperate fighting, from turning our left. After expending all 
 his ammunition. Colonel Chamberlain, by a timely charge, 
 drove his opponents down the west side of the hill and capt- 
 ured many prisoners. After dark the regiment seized and held 
 Big Round Top. 
 
 The Seventh Maine Regiment, Lieut. -Col. Selden Connor, 
 took position on high ground east of Rock Creek, the extreme 
 right of the Union infantry line, where it protected our flank, 
 but was not severely engaged after having driven the enemy's 
 skirmishers out along its front. 
 
 Capt. Jacob McClure, Co. D, 2d U. S. Sharpshooters, was 
 out on the skirmish line in front of the First Division of the 
 
THIRD DAY OF BATTLE. 11 
 
 Third Corps, between Round Top and the Emmitsburg Road, 
 and was under constant fire from morning until the general 
 advance of Longstreet in the afternoon. When the company 
 fell back, some of the men remained in line of battle and filled 
 vacant places in the thin line of the division. Others came 
 under the command of Colonel Chamberlain on Little Round 
 Top and assisted his company under Captain Morrill, who had 
 command of a skirmish line on the left, where both delivered a 
 flank fire upon the enemy at a critical moment. 
 
 On the right of the Union army Ewell gained after dark a 
 foothold on Culp's Hill, where a portion of the Twelfth Corps 
 had vacated its ground when ordered near night to other parts 
 of the Union army. 
 
 During the movement against Culp's Hill, Early's division 
 was directed to carry Cemetery Hill by a charge, preceded by 
 an artillery fire from Benner's Hill from four Confederate 
 batteries. These batteries, how^ever, were silenced by our bat- 
 teries on Cemetery Hill and Stevens' Fifth Maine Battery in 
 position between Cemetery and Culp's Hill. Then Earh/s 
 infantry moved out, but were handsomely repulsed, suffering 
 severe loss, especially from the enfilading fire on their left 
 flank by the Fifth Maine Battery. 
 
 THIRD DAY. 
 
 At the close of the second day, Lee believed that he had 
 effected a lodgment in both flanks of the Union army. Meade 
 called a council of his corps commanders and decided to remain 
 and hold his position, and at daylight attacked Ewell in force 
 and compelled him to give up the ground that he had occupied 
 the night before that had been left vacant by a portion of the 
 Twelfth Corps. Then Lee determined to attack the centre of 
 the Union line held by the Second Corps. He accordingly 
 ordered Longstreet, who was opposed to the movement, to 
 make this assault which is generally called "Pickett's Charge." 
 Lee massed nearly one hundred and fifty guns of his artillery 
 along Seminary Ridge and the Emmitsburg Road and opened 
 fire against the Union line. Barely eighty guns from our side 
 
12 MAINE AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 could be put in position to reply, and a tremendous artillery 
 duel followed that lasted for two hours. Then Pichett, Petti- 
 grew, and Trimble, under order of General Long street, with a 
 column of about fifteen thousand men, made a charge into the 
 centre of the Union line ; but the charge failed, although some 
 of Pichetfs men broke through a portion of Hancock's first 
 line, where they were met, in front and flank, by other forces 
 of the Second Corps, including the Nineteenth Maine Regiment, 
 and some of the First Corps, which rolled them back with 
 great losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners. This ended 
 the fighting along the infantry line of the Union army. The 
 farthest point reached by the Confederates in this charge is 
 marked by the " High- Water Mark " monument. 
 
 After the repulse of Pickett Kilpatrick made a charge from 
 the extreme Union left without accomplishing much success. 
 This was succeeded by an infantry reconnaissance composed of 
 portions of the Fifth and Sixth corps — in the latter a part 
 of the Fifth Maine Regiment participated — in the direction of 
 the Peach Orchard, which resulted in the retirement of the 
 enemy from nearly the entire front of the left of the Union 
 lines to and beyond the Emmitsburg Road, the capture of a 
 batch of prisoners, and the re-capture of a piece of artillery 
 from the enemy. This successful and promising movement, 
 however, was not followed up. There was a sharp and hard 
 cavalry battle between Gregg, in conjunction with Custer, and 
 Stuart, when the latter endeavored with his cavalry to pass 
 around the Union right flank on the third day. Charges and 
 counter charges were made there, and the Confederates, being 
 defeated, withdrew from the field. 
 
 Lee spent all of the fourth day and until daylight on the 
 fifth preparing for retreat, but in the meantime intrenching for 
 any attack that might be made. But Meade did not attack ; 
 nor would he adventure anything. He permitted Lee to fall 
 back to the Potomac without following up the advantage that 
 he had gained. Lee crossed the Potomac at Williamsport and 
 was followed some days after by Meade. 
 
 Of the forces actually engaged, the Union loss in the battle 
 of Gettysburg was twenty-three thousand out of seventy-eight 
 
LB '03 
 
MAINE TROOPS ENGAGED. 13 
 
 thousand ; the Confederate was twenty-three thousand out of 
 seventy thousand, — about one-third of the entire number 
 engaged. 
 
 The iNIaine troops engaged at Gettysburg, arranged in 
 {•hron()h)gicaI order, were as foHows : — 
 
 Second ^Nlaine Battery, Capt. James A. Hall. 
 
 Sixteenth Maine Regiment, Col. Charles W. Tilden. 
 
 Fifth Maine Battery, Capt. Greenlief T, Stevens. 
 
 Third Maine Regiment, Col. Moses B. Lakeman. 
 
 Fourth Elaine Regiment, Col. P^lijah Walker. 
 
 Seventeenth Maine Regiment, Lieut. -Col. Charles B. Merrill. 
 
 Twentieth Maine Regiment, Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain. 
 
 Nineteenth Maine Regiment, Col. Francis E. Heath. 
 
 Sixth Maine Battery, Lieut. Edwin B. Dow. 
 
 Co. D, 2d U. S. Sharpshooters, Capt. Jacob McClure. 
 
 Fifth Maine Regiment, Col. Clark S. Edwards. 
 
 Sixth ]Maine Regiment, Col. Hiram Burnham. 
 
 Seventh Maine Regiment, Lieut. -Col. Selden Connor. 
 
 First Maine Cavalry, Col. Charles H. Smith. 
 
 Tenth Maine Battalion, Capt. John D. Beardsley. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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