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The Third day.
At daylight it was found that the
Round Tops were heavily occupied.
Meade had reinforced his left with the Fifth and Sixth corps and heavy artillery.
General Lee, changing his plan, directed
Longstreet to form a column of attack on the
Federal left centre, and assault from the south, while
Ewell attacked from the north, at
Culp's hill, on the opposite sides of the fish-hook curve.
Pickett's division, not yet in battle, was to be the centre, with
Heth's division of
Hill's corps, under
Pettigrew, as a second line.
Two brigades (
Wilcox and
Perry) of
Anderson's division, supported the right and two brigades (
Lane and
Scales), under
Trimble, supported the left.
Ewell's left had begun vigorously on
Culp's hill, when the order to advance was given to
Pickett.
Near the middle of
Hancock's line was a clump of trees, which
General Lee suggested to
Longstreet as an objective point.
It was not far from the position
Wright's Georgians had gained the evening before.
At 10 A. M.,
General E. P. Alexander opened the fire of fifteen guns along the Emmettsburg road, and
General R. L. Walker opened from the
Seminary hill a battery of sixty-three guns.
The artillery was to go forward as the column advanced and support the attacks.
Again
Longstreet was reluctant.
Three hours passed away in unnecessary delay.
And in this time
Ewell's attack on
Culp's hill was a wasted opportunity.
Not until 2 o'clock did the artillery duel begin.
More than two hundred guns made a crash and roar that was indescribable and unearthly.
The two ridges opposing were blazing volcanoes.
The Confederate swept the
Cemetery ridge.
General Walker, of the
Federal army, says: ‘The whole space behind
Cemetery hill was in a moment rendered uninhabitable.
Caissons exploded, destruction covered the whole ground, army headquarters were broken up. Never had a storm so dreadful burst on mortal man.’
The batteries in the
Cemetery withdrew, partly to save ammunition.
General Alexander, with the advanced guns, wrote a line to
Pickett: ‘If you are coming at all, you must come at once.’
Pickett asked
Longstreet: ‘Shall I advance?’
and he was silent.
Then
Pickett said: ‘Sir, I shall lead my division forward!’
And they went.
Out of the woods, across the Emmettsburg road, two lines of gray, with glittering bayonets, 12,000 of them altogether, with their supports.
A deep silence fell upon the field.
Half-way to
Hancock's salient and the clump
