Late in the forenoon of July 3, General Meade had completed his plan of
defense in rear of the Union center by the concentration of all
available infantry units. General Hunt, sensing the danger, placed a
solid line of batteries in position on the crest of the ridge and
brought others to the rear for emergency use. As a final act of
preparation, Meade inspected his front at the stone wall, then rode
southward to Little Round Top. Here, with General Warren, he could see
the long lines of Confederate batteries and the massing of troops, a
sure indication of attack. Meade rode back to his headquarters.
Lee, on his part, had observed in the forenoon the enemy in the process
of concentration on Cemetery Ridge. Having reached his decision to
strike the Union center, he had already begun the movement of batteries
from the rear to points of advantage. By noon, 138 guns were in line
from the Peach Orchard northward to the Seminary buildings, many of them
only 800 yards from the Union center. To Colonel Alexander fell the lot
of directing the artillery fire and informing the infantry of the best
opportunity to advance.
Massed to the west of Emmitsburg Road, on low ground which screened
their position from the Union lines, lay Gen. George Pickett’s three
brigades commanded by Kemper, Armistead, and Garnett. Pickett’s men had
arrived the previous evening from Chambersburg, where they had guarded
Lee’s wagons on July 1 and 2. As the only fresh body of troops on the
field, they were now to spearhead the charge. On Pickett’s left, the
attacking front was fast being organized. Joseph Pettigrew, a brigadier,
was preparing to lead the division of the wounded Major General Heth and
Maj. Gen. Isaac Trimble took the command of Pender. More than 10,000
troops of these two divisions—including such units as the 26th North
Carolina whose losses on the first day were so heavy that the dead
marked their advance “with the accuracy of a line at a dress parade”—now
awaited the order to attack. Many hours earlier, the Bliss farm
buildings, which lay in their front, had been burned. Their objective on
the ridge was in clear view. The brigades of Wilcox and Lang were to
move forward on the right of Pickett in order to protect his flank as he
neared the enemy position.
[Illustration: _The Round Tops as they appear from Longstreet’s
battle line one mile away._]
General Stuart, in the meantime, had been out of touch with Lee. Moving
northward on the right flank of the Union Army, he became involved in a
sharp engagement at Hanover, Pa., on June 30. Seeking to regain contact
with Lee, he arrived at Carlisle on the evening of July 1. As he began
shelling the barracks, orders arrived from Lee and he at once marched
for Gettysburg, arriving north of the town the next day. Lee now decided
to employ his cavalry to cut off Union retreat which might result from a
successful attack on the center. Stuart was instructed to swing eastward
and then south around Gettysburg the morning of July 3 in order to
arrive in the rear of the Union lines at the time Pickett was expected
to charge the center.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG]
[Illustration: _View northward from Little Round Top. 1. Cemetery
Ridge. 2. Cemetery Hill. 3. Field of Pickett’s Charge. 4. Seminary
Ridge. 5. Oak Hill. The statue of G. K. Warren appears in the
foreground._]
[Illustration: _Meade’s headquarters as it appears today._]
Except for the intermittent sniping of sharpshooters, an ominous silence
prevailed over the fields. The orders had now been given; the objective
had been pointed out. Men talked of casual things. Some munched on hard
bread, others looked fearfully to the eastward, where, with the same
mixed feelings, lay their adversary.
Far to the south, on another crucial front, General Pemberton was
penning a letter to General Grant asking terms for the surrender of
Vicksburg. In Richmond, the sick and anxious Jefferson Davis looked
hopefully for heartening word from his great field commander at
Gettysburg. The outcome of this bold venture would count heavily in the
balance for the cause of the Confederacy.