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Angry Staff Officer @pptsapper
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It is 0646. Where is your local crazy historian now?
I am the only living soul on Little Round Top. This is surreal.
Protip: do not, I repeat, DO NOT listen to the Sullivan Ballou letter as you drive through the Valley of Death, unless you heart is made of iron

Apparently everything is in my eye right now

Gorram
Warren and Buford both had a keen eye for terrain. And Reynolds had the nerve to take the fight to the enemy.
The 19th Indiana of the Iron Brigade, which lost 9 color bearers in this position while fighting on the morning of July 1
The Eternal Light Peace Memorial, designed by Paul Philippe Cret of Philadelphia, himself a French veteran of WWI, who also designed the Monument on Hill 204 and the PA monument in Varennes, among many
One of two breech-loading Whitworth rifled guns on Oak Hill, for @LadyLovesTaft who enjoys weird artillery
Oak Ridge, where the 12th MA fought for a time with bayonet only, having run out of ammunition, as depicted by the empty cartridge box & bayonet scabbard at the base
Where my Mainers at? You don't get JLC on LRT without the 16th, who fought a delaying action against an enemy division which bought time for the I & XI Corps to consolidate on Cemetery Hill. Rather than surrender their colors, they tore them to shreds before they were overrun
Hubert Anton Casimir Dilger's Battery of Buckeyes. Dilger was a German immigrant with extensive military experience who settled in Cincinnati.

Immigrants fight.
The guns of Battery G, 4th US Artillery, commanded by 19yo LT Bayard Wilkeson. During the action here he was felled when a round shot nearly severed his leg. He calmly directed the fire of his guns as he amputated his own leg with a penknife. He soon died.
Not just a bad idea, a colossally bad idea.
Hidden out of the way is this lovely little monument to Co F of Berdan's 1st US Sharpshooters, who gave Longstreet a wicked bad day here
"Stand firm ye boys from Maine, for not once in a century are men permitted to bear such responsibility for freedom and justice, for God and humanity as are now placed upon you."
The sort of hidden away but very striking monument to Col Strong Vincent, who took his brigade to LRT without orders, thus showing the importance of disciplined initiative and badass sideburns. He would fall in this fight.
Houck's Ridge, over which the men of the 13th PA Reserves, the Bucktails, attacked the Rebel marksmen in Devil's Den, as you'll remember from @WarStoriesCast
Manfully resisted correcting someone mansplaining the Triangle Field as the Wheat Field

I deserve a medal now
The 4th Maine held Devil's Den, recapturing a US battery with a bayonet charge before falling back across the Valley of Death. Again, without this Maine unit, the 20th wouldn't have a hill to defend
As the US fell back across the Valley, a new fight was developing in the Wheatfield. Here the 17th Maine held their ground till forced back after going black on ammo. However, they fixed bayonets & charged, clearing the field, buying time for reinforcements to come up
As more Confederate troops hit the Wheatfield, Col Edward Cross, formerly the fiery commander of the 2nd New Hampshire, leads his brigade in a charge across the field, where the hero of the Sunken Road at Antietam falls mortally wounded, never to see the Granite State again
Soon the Irish Brigade - already painfully small, each regiment about 100 strong - is tossed into the meat grinder of the Wheatfield, sustaining grievous losses. The Irish Wolfhound at the base signifies loyalty and fidelity.

Immigrants fight.
The trusty Bucktails get into the fight with their Sharps Rifles, here on Houck's Ridge, fighting Rebels in Rose Woods and Devil's Den for two days of nasty sniper fighting.
Lest we forget the Regulars, by God! (Forgive the War of 1812 reference) Sykes' Division of Regulars slams across the Valley of Death, over Houck's Ridge, and pitches into the bloody mess of the Wheatfield
Here in the Wheatfield, the 4th Michigan loses its colors in hand to hand fighting. Its commander, Col Jeffords, wielding his revolver, seizes the colors and passes them back to his men as he is pierced through the chest with a bayonet
As the crescendo grows from the Wheatfield, the US position in the Peach Orchard is struck from three sides by a violent assault from two divisions. Under the weight of the assault, the salient collapses
As the infantry withdraws, the gunners of the 9th MA Artillery begin to retreat by recoil, blasting canister and double canister at the oncoming masses of Confederate infantry. The artillery will form a thin redleg line that will buy time for US reinforcements
Why did Sickles move forward in the 1st place? Because this was his 1st position. In a low, swampy area, where he would've been rolled up. He gets a lot of grief, but it's a damned of you do, damned if you don't thing. With his advance, he inadvertently created a defense in depth
As evening falls on July 2, former ship captain LTC Freeman MacGilvery forms a thin line of guns along Cemetery Ridge which belch canister, case, and grape as the red flags of the Rebellion close in, intent on piercing the line
And so thus it was that MG Hancock orders forward the 1st Minnesota, which bounds ahead with a shout straight into the sea of red flags - the Rebels are checked and thrown back. at the cost of 83% of the Minnesotans
Engineers. We just can't help ourselves. We leave castles everywhere
The poor XII Corps on Culp's Hill. They dig nice entrenched positions on July 2 then get called away to help III Corps. They arrive back late at night to find the Rebels in possession of their works. So they promptly attack & drive them out in five hours of night fighting
It's hard to show in a picture, but you can still see the rise in the earth where they dug their trenches. Has very much the same feel as hasty WWI trenches
On Cemetery Hill, MG OO Howard looks towards where his XI Corps had the fight of their lives. It was a legacy that he wouldn't be able to shake until the following years of the war.
And nearby - Winfield Scott Hancock - the Superb - looks out toward Seminary Ridge, daring Bobby Lee to do his worst.
Unfortunately, just like that, my time at one of my favorite places on earth is just about up. And I didn't even stop at the Angle, the National Cemetery, or the Cavalry Battlefield, I know. Thanks for joining me on this diversion.
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