McLaws' Assault was a Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day

Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day

The Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day was an attempt by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to capitalize on his first day's success. He launched the Army of Northern Virginia in multiple Gettsyburg Battlefield attacks on the flanks of the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G...

, military engagement of infantry and artillery at the Stony Hill ("The Loop"), Excelsior Field, the Wertz & Sherfy houses, the Trostle Farm, and "momentous attacks and counterattacks in" The Peach Orchard and The Wheatfield. Wheatfield engagements of 6 Confederate brigades versus 13 smaller Federal brigades involved 20,444 men with 30% casualties, including 500 Confederate killed.

Initial positions and artillery dual

Following an afternoon skirmish when David B. Birney

David B. Birney

David Bell Birney was a businessman, lawyer, and a Union General in the American Civil War.-Early life:Birney was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of an abolitionist from Kentucky, James G. Birney. The Birney family returned to Kentucky in 1833, and James Birney freed his slaves...

 sent a small Union force westward from The Peach Orchard to Warfield Ridge that was repelled, McLaws' Confederate force was positioned on Warfield Ridge (4 brigades: Kershaw

Joseph B. Kershaw

Joseph Brevard Kershaw was a lawyer, judge, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War.-Early life:...

, Semmes

Paul Jones Semmes

Paul Jones Semmes was a banker, businessman, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War, mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg.-Early life:...

, Barksdale

William Barksdale

William Barksdale was a lawyer, newspaper editor, U.S. Congressman, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War...

, & Wofford

William T. Wofford

William Tatum Wofford was an officer during the Mexican-American War and a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...

). Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

 command George G. Meade held a 3 pm corps commanders meeting then met at The Peach Orchard with Sickles,http://books.google.com/books?id=Zph9cjB2LhQC&pg=PT241&lpg=PT241&dq=%22General+Meade+found+General+Sickles+and+his+staff+by+the+Wheatfield+Road+at+the+Peach+Orchard%22&source=bl&ots=LNNcPUJ78h&sig=LA057WxKoJsIB6FWvbotFdfsMOY&hl=en&ei=yXmkTun4IpHTiALtlOB-&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA# whose units were at positions on 2 low converging ridges--"one from Devil's Den, the other along the Emmitsburg road"--which formed the "angle of the Peach Orchard". "The Peach Orchard Salient" was formed by the northward line to the east of the Wertz and Sherfy houses, and the "Wheatfield Road

Wheatfield Road

The Wheatfield Road is a Gettysburg Battlefield crossroad from the Peach Orchard east-southeastward along the north side of The Wheatfield , north of the Valley of Death, and over the north foot of Little Round Top...

 line" extending eastward from The Peach Orchard past The Wheatfield to Houck's Ridge. The eastward line included ~6 p.m. reinforcements Meade had ordered that afternoon with four brigades of the II Corps, 1st Division (Zook

Samuel K. Zook

Samuel Kosciuszko Zook was a Union general during the American Civil War, killed in action during the Battle of Gettysburg.-Early years:...

, Kelly

Patrick Kelly (Colonel)

Patrick Kelly was an Irish-American Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He led the famed Irish Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg.-Early life:...

, Cross

Edward E. Cross

Edward Ephraim Cross was a newspaperman and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Journalist:...

 and in reserve, Brooke

John R. Brooke

John Rutter Brooke was a major general in the United States Army during both the American Civil War and the Spanish American War...

); and the Stony Hill was reinforced by two Union brigades of the 1st Division, V Corps.

Lee planned concurrent assaults by Hood and McLaws, but while Hood began at 4 pm, Longstreet withheld McLaws until ~5 p.m. when Hood's Assault was reaching its limits and was fully engaged. Hood's Assault included the first engagement in The Wheatfield with Anderson's Confederate brigade from Houck's Ridge attacking the 17th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment

17th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The 17th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was mustered in at Cape Elizabeth, Maine for three year's service on August 18, 1862 and were mustered out on June 10, 1865. Recruits still liable to serve were transferred to 1st Maine Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment.-Casualties and total strength:The...

 (3rd Br, 1st Div, II Corps), which held its position behind a low stone wall with the assistance of Winslow's battery (Anderson fell back).

Following an artillery dual with Union guns (e.g., Smith's battery at Devil's Den and Ames' cannon in the orchard) counterfiring on Confederate artillery under Alexander on Warfield Ridge "stretching down to the crossing of the Emmitsburg pike", Longstreet ordered McLaws to attack eastward. McLaws used sequential (en echelon) human wave attack

Human wave attack

Human wave attack, also known as human sea attack, is an offensive infantry tactic, in which an attacker conducts an unprotected frontal assault with densely concentrated infantry formations against the enemy line, intended to overrun the defenders by engaging in melee combat.-Definition:According...

s beginning with Kershaw's brigade crossing the Emmitsburg Road south of the Peach Orchard, followed by Barksdale's brigade on the North, and Wofford behind Barksdale into the Peach Orchard.

Infantry engagements

By 5:30 p.m., the first of Kershaw's Confederate regiments attacking from Warfield Ridge eastward across the Emmitsburg Rd had neared the Rose farmhouse. The Union cannon and infantry firing southward from the "Peach Orchard were able to rake Kershaw's lines severely". At the Stony Hill, the 17th ME held against Kershaw's attack, but Barnes withdrew his understrength division about 300 yards (274.3 m) northward to a new position near the Wheatfield Road. Trobriand and the 17th ME followed, and the Confederates seized Stony Hill and streamed into the Wheatfield.

After arriving ~6 p.m., Zook's and Kelly's brigades drove the Confederates from Stony Hill, and Cross' brigade cleared the Wheatfield, pushing Kershaw's men back to the edge of Rose Woods. Zook, Cross, and the Confederate Semmes were mortally wounded during these assaults; and when Cross's men had exhausted their ammunition, Caldwell ordered Brooke in reserve to relieve them.

Federals "held the peach orchard until nearly dusk" against Wofford's assault, which continued eastward along the Wheatfield Road, taking Stony Hill and flanking the Union forces in the Wheatfield. Brooke's brigade in Rose Woods had to retreat in some disorder. Sweitzer's brigade was sent in and, "after an hour of fighting…Tilton and Swietzer's [brigades] certainly occupied the stony hill", effectively delaying the Confederate assault with hand-to-hand combat, but the Wheatfield was retaken.

Ayres'

Romeyn B. Ayres

Romeyn Beck Ayres was a Union Army general in the American Civil War.-Early life:Ayres was born at East Creek, New York, along the Mohawk River in Montgomery County. He was the son of a small-town doctor who urged all of his sons into professional careers...

 V corps 2nd Division arrived from the northwest slope of Little Round Top by this time having crossed the Valley of Death under heavy Confederate sharpshooter fire from Devil's Den. Confederates swarmed over Stony Hill and through Rose Woods, flanking the advance of Ayres, who retreated back to Little Round Top despite pursuing Confederates and heavy casualties (829 of 2,613 engaged in 2 brigades).

Barksdale and Wofford attacks

Meanwhile from Warfield Ridge on the west, Gen. Barksdale's brigades attacked eastward into 500 yards (457.2 m) of the Union line along the Emmitsburg Road from the Trostle lane south to the Peach Orchard. Humphrey's

Andrew A. Humphreys

Andrew Atkinson Humphreys , was a career United States Army officer, civil engineer, and a Union General in the American Civil War. He served in senior positions in the Army of the Potomac, including division command, chief of staff, and corps command, and was Chief Engineer of the U.S...

 division had only about 1,000 Federals to cover the line (some were still facing south to fire on Kershaw's assault), and Barksdale's 1,600 Mississippians wheeled left against the flank and collapsed Humphrey's line, regiment by regiment.

Wofford's attack on the Peach Orchard caused the Federal retreat from the orchard about dusk with Barksdale's 21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment

21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment

The 21st Regiment, Mississippi Infantry was a Confederate infantry regiment from Mississippi in the American Civil War. The regiment was involved in several well documented battles including the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Chickamauga....

 passing through the orchard (instead of wheeling) and engaging the 2nd New Hampshire and along the road, Clark's 2nd NJ battery

2nd Battery "B" New Jersey Volunteer Light Artillery

-Alternate Names:* 2nd Battery "B" New Jersey Volunteer Light Artillery * Beam's Battery * Clark's Battery...

. After the 5th Massachusetts battery had retreated from the Wheatfield Rd line, the 21st MS engaged the 9th Massachusetts Battery farther east--which by that time, General "McGilvery

Freeman McGilvery

Freeman McGilvery was a United States Army artillery officer during the American Civil War. He gained fame at the Battle of Gettysburg for taking the initiative to piece together a line of guns that greatly contributed to the Union victory.-Biography:McGilvery was born in Prospect, Maine...

 had dismissed it with a “limber up and get out”" ("the 9th was the last to leave the Wheatfield Road line"). Wofford's brigade advanced eastward along the Wheatfield Road, flanking "the Federal position in the Wheatfield" after the ~7:30 p.m. Confederate advance through The Wheatfield.

Crawford's charge

Crawford's

Samuel W. Crawford

Samuel Wylie Crawford was a United States Army surgeon and a Union general in the American Civil War.-Early life:...

 Pennsylvania Reserves had arrived from the Baltimore Pike

Baltimore Pike

thumb|[[SEPTA]]'s [[SEPTA Route 34|Route 34]] streetcar line runs through the 4500 block of Baltimore Avenue in [[West Philadelphia]]The Baltimore Pike was an auto trail in the United States, connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 to the northeast slope of Little Round Top after Sickles had been wounded, and the division was subsequently positioned on the northwest slope. At about 7:30 p.m, the Confederate advance through the Wheatfield continued eastward into the Valley of Death (Gettysburg) toward the Union line remaining from the earlier Battle of Little Round Top. After retreating federals passed Crawford's troops, the Confederates were charged west of Little Round Top by Crawford's division at "double quick"--along with Nevin's brigade--led by McCandless'

William McCandless

William McCandless was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, commanding a regiment and then a brigade in the Pennsylvania Reserve Division.-Biography:...

 3rd brigade (including Gettysburg Company K in Talley's 1st Regiment) that drove the exhausted Confederates back beyond the Wheatfield to Stony Hill. Crawford established his line at the east edge of the Wheatfield.

Union retreat

Instead of "limber[ing] up", Bigelow's 9th MA had "retired by prolonge" from the Wheatfield Rd northward to the Trostle Farm, stopping to fire the unlimbered cannon between periods of pulling them backwards, aided by recoil. On reaching the house, they were to cover the infantry retreat and were eventually overrun by the 21st MS: "more than half [of Bigelow's] men either killed or wounded, and his horses all shot down at the limbers-he was forced to leave four guns and retire. … In the meantime I formed a new line of artillery about 400 yards to the rear [east], close under the woods, and covering the opening which led [east to the rear] into the Gettysburg and Taneytown Road

Pennsylvania Route 134

Pennsylvania Route 134 , also called Taneytown Road, is a north–south, two-lane state highway in Pennsylvania. It runs in Cumberland and Mount Joy townships from Gettysburg to the Mason-Dixon Line...

" (McGilvery report). McGilvery's artillery "held Barksdale in check around the Trostle House for three-quarters of an hour after I had finished my half hour struggle, before Col. Willard

George L. Willard

George Lamb Willard was an officer in the Union Army who commanded a New York regiment and, briefly, a brigade in the American Civil War. He lost his life leading the brigade in the II Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg....

came to his support" (1909 Bigelow letter).http://books.google.com/books?id=79BBAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA39&ots=LQeM6VDlHT&dq=%22McGilvery%20Avenue%22%20gettysburg&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q=%22six%20places%22&f=false

Graham's infantry brigade also retreated eastward toward Cemetery Ridge (the wounded Graham was captured by the 21st Mississippi), and as Barksdale's men pushed toward Sickles's headquarters near the Trostle barn, Sickles was wounded "soon after 6 o'clock" during his staff retreat to the east (Birney assumed command of Sickles' defeated III Corps). The final advance of McLaws' assault was the 21st MS, which "pushed past the Trostle Farm" eastward until the 21st commander ordered his isolated troops to withdraw.

Aftermath

Despite McLaws defeating the Third Corps, the Union retreat to the fishhook positions at Weikert Hill and the south end of Cemetery Ridge

Cemetery Ridge

Cemetery Ridge is a geographic feature in Gettysburg National Military Park south of the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that figured prominently in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to July 3, 1863. It formed a primary defensive position for the Union Army during the battle, roughly the center of...

 provided a defense which the Army of Northern Virginia

Army of Northern Virginia

The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac...

 avoided on the Battle of Gettysburg, Third Day. The resultant section of the July 3

Pickett's Charge

Pickett's Charge was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Its futility was predicted by the charge's commander,...

 Confederate line after McLaws Assault was used for the southern end of Longstreet's Assault (e.g., a portion of the artillery barrage was from The Peach Orchard). A Confederate area farther south was later successfully defended during the battle of South Cavalry Field that included a Union cavalry charge led by William Wells

William Wells (general)

-Medal of Honor:Wells commanded the Second Battalion, 1st Vermont Cavalry, in the repulse of Stuart's Cavalry at the Battle of Hanover during the Gettysburg Campaign...

 on July 3.

Dead in the Valley of Death were stacked up to 3 bodies high before being buried nearby on July 5 (Union remains were reinterred in the Gettysburg National Cemetery

Gettysburg National Cemetery

The Gettysburg National Cemetery is located on Cemetery Hill in the Gettysburg Battlefield near the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery to the south...

.) Medal of Honor recipients for action against McLaws' Assault included Lt James J. Purman, Sgt James M. Pipes and Sickles. By 1865, the anonymous Historicus attempted to rebut criticism of Sickles' Gettysburg deployment and defeat, and in October 1865 and June 1882 John B. Bachelder

John B. Bachelder

John Badger Bachelder was a portrait and landscape painter, lithographer, and photographer, but best known as the preeminent 19th century historian of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War...

 held memorial association era reunions for officers to identify points of McClaw's Assault. Numerous Gettysburg Battlefield memorials and monuments were placed to commemorate units of the assaulthttp://books.google.com/books?id=QSUtAAAAYAAJ&dq=wheat+field&q=wheat+field#v=snippet&q=wheat%20field&f=false (e.g., Excelsior Brigade in 1888.)http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iYsgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dmYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1851,2361893&dq=maine+little-round-top&hl=en The Loop

The Loop

- Neighborhoods :* Chicago Loop, a district of downtown Chicago* Delmar Loop, a district in St. Louis and University City, Missouri- Transportation :* The Loop , an elevated railroad circuit in downtown Chicago...

 had been named at the Stony Hill by 1893,http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70E15FD3D5A1A738DDDA10A94DE405B8385F0D3 and during the commemorative era, several Gettysburg National Military Park

Gettysburg National Military Park

The Gettysburg National Military Park is an administrative unit of the National Park Service's northeast region and a subunit of federal properties of Adams County, Pennsylvania, with the same name, including the Gettysburg National Cemetery...

 avenues were named for the Union commanders: Ayres (1907), Birney, Brooke (1907), Crawford (1895), de Trobriand, McGilvery, and Sickles. The former Outside Wheatfield Road south of The Peach Orchard was surveyed in 1893 at the southern side of the area of McClaw's Assault. Bigelow issued a 1901 correction to Bachelder's Trostle Farm map and initiated a 1909 effort (denied by the Gettysburg Park Commission) to rename the Trostle Lane from the generic United States Avenue to "Hunt Avenue" or "McGilvery Avenue".

Crawford purchased land at the Valley of Death and, until the First Army Appropriations Act of 1917 acquired the tracts, "Crawford's Glen" provided a right-of-way for the Gettysburg Electric Railway

Gettysburg Electric Railway

The Gettysburg Electric Railway was a borough trolley that provided summer access to Gettysburg Battlefield visitor attractions such as military engagement areas, monuments, postbellum camps, and recreation areas...

. The trolley line crossed the McClaw's Assault area from the Sherfy House to the Wheatfield Rd, Wheat-field Park, Wible's Woods, The Loop

The Loop

- Neighborhoods :* Chicago Loop, a district of downtown Chicago* Delmar Loop, a district in St. Louis and University City, Missouri- Transportation :* The Loop , an elevated railroad circuit in downtown Chicago...

, Tipton Station

Tipton Station

Tipton Station was a Gettysburg Battlefield trolley stop of the Gettysburg Electric Railway for passenger access to Crawford's Glen to the north, Devil's Den , and Tipton Park...

, and the Round Top Station

Round Top Station

Round Top Station was the southernmost station of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad and was located west of a blacksmith shop along the Taneytown Road that was in operation in 1880.-History:...

 terminus despite losing the US v. Gettysburg Electric Ry case

United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co.

United States v. Gettysburg Electric Ry. Co. was a case to prevent trolley operations on the Gettysburg Battlefield. The dispute began in August 1891 when the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association's board approved attorney motion to deny trolley right-of-way along GBMA roads...

 in the Supreme Court. The Wheatfield was used for postbellum military camps in 1886, 1888, & 1928

Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War

Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War were used by the Pennsylvania National Guard, Civil War veterans, the United States Marine Corps, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the United States Army, and the Youth Conservation Corps....

; and The Peach Orchard acquired in 1906 has been replanted several times (a jar of the 1863 peaches remained until after 1937).http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i85PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wFQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4187,6033550&dq=sherfy+peach+gettysburg&hl=en