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Thursday, July 2 - 1 A.M. - Meade and
his staff ride through the moonlit night the twelve miles to Gettysburg, arriving at 3 A.M. just as Lee, across the way, is rising from
a three hour nap and having breakfast in the dark.  9 A. M. - Lee has worked out the overall plan for
the attack that day. Gen. Longstreet was ordered by Lee to attack at the left of the
Union line. Meanwhile Ewell was to threaten the other end of the line on Culp's
Hill. But, when Lee returned to headquarters at 11 A.M.
Longstreet had still not moved into position. Lee ordered him to move forward but
Longstreet was too slow in getting his troops into position and didn't attack until 4 p.m.
giving the Union Army even more time to strengthen its position.
3:00 P.M. - Union General Sickles
advances his Corps a half a mile or more in front of the main line into the Peach Orchard
and smack in the line of Longstreet's attack. Some of the most bitter fighting of
the Civil War now erupted at places that are part of American military folklore -- the
Peach Orchard, Devil's Den, the Wheat Field and Little Round Top.
J.E.B. Stuart at long last reports to Lee. "General Stuart, where have you
been?" Lee asked. "I have not heard a word from you in days, and you
are the eyes and ears of my army."
4:00 P.M. - Just as Longstreet's attack
finally gets underway an officer on Meade's staff inspects Little Round Top.
Meade at last orders Union troops to the unoccupied hill. A brigade of Sykes Corps,
including 20th Maine, arrive on the heights barely fifteen minutes before the Texans and
Alabamians came howling up the slope. The fighting was especially heavy on the far
left of the line where the 20th Maine, under a former minister and college professor
Joshua Chamberlain, opposed the 15th Alabama. Under no less than five charges
"the edge of the fight swayed back and forward like a wave." Losses were
heavy on both sides, particularly among Federal officers. One recalled later that
"The blood stood in puddles in some places on the rocks." Finally,
exausted and nearly out of amunition, Chamberlain led his men in a bayonet attack that
drove the Confederates from the hill.
7:00 P.M. - General Ewell attacked the
Union line from the north and east at Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill. Since Meade had been
shifting units to meet the threat on the left and center, Ewell's attack had a chance for
success. Despite fierce fighting at close range, the final Confederate attack
of that second day was repulsed as the battlefield slipped into the uneasy quiet of
darkness. The Federals had lost some ground during the Rebel onslaughts but still
held a strong defensive position along Cemetery Ridge.
10:30 P.M. - As the day's fighting came to
an end Lee decided to gamble to win the Battle of Gettysburg and in effect win the Civil
War. He would attack the next day at the center of the Union line along Cemetery
Ridge where it would be least expected. Lee thought the battered Union soldiers were
nearly beaten and would collapse under one final push. His plan for tomorrow completed,
Lee finally retired for some sleep at midnight.
At the same time Meade's council of war with his Corps commanders was breaking up.
The Federals would fight it out where they stood.
July 1 July 3
Battle maps from The Battle of
Gettysburg by Brian Williams.
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