Gettysburg: the second day's fighting.
When
General Warren discovered the defenseless condition of
Little Round Top, he spied the division of
Brigadier-General James Barnes marching to the relief of their comrades fighting along the
Emmitsburg road.
Warren, on his own responsibility, rode over to
General Barnes and detached
Vincent's brigade, hurrying it back to guard
Little Round Top. It was not long before the men of the Forty-fourth New York were engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the determined Confederates of
Hood, worming their way from tree to tree and boulder to boulder, in a running fight up the slope.
The men of the Forty-fourth New York were among the finest in the service; they were enlisted from every county in their native State, and were selected in accordance with strict requirements as to fitness.
The average age of the regiment was twenty-two; its heaviest battle loss (one hundred and eleven), occurred in the defense of
Little Round Top at
Gettysburg.
The ground seemed impregnable, but the Southerners, rushing on from their victory at “the
Bloody Angle,” climbed the slopes in such a desperate onslaught that the
Federals, not having time to load, advanced to repel the attack with the bayonet.
The hillside after the battle was literally strewn with the dead and wounded.
To the prompt and brave work of
Vincent's brigade, in which fought the Forty-fourth New York, was due, in part, the fact that
Little Round Top was not taken in that first assault.
The repulse of the
Confederates gave the
Federals time to bring up a battery and strengthen the position against the repeated charges of the afternoon.
