Longstreet Tower - East View

At Gettysburg, General Daniel E. Sickles, acting on his own initiative, moved the 10,500-man Union Third Corps three-quarters of a mile in front of the original Union line on Cemetery Ridge because he believed it allowed him to hold commanding ground. The new position ran from the base of Little Round Top to the Peach Orchard and extended a quarter-mile along Emmittsburg Road, but the mile-long line was too long for the undermanned Third Corps to defend adequately. On July 2, 1863, at 5:00, McLaws' 7,100-man division of Longstreet's Corps joined Hood's assault against the Union position. Kershaw's Brigade of South Carolinians advanced toward the Rose Farm woodline, crossed the Emmittsburg Road, and split in two, with one half attacking the Rose Farm Woods and the other wheeling against the Peach Orchard. At 5:45 P.M., Barksdale's Brigade of Mississippians advanced on Kershaw's left, broke through the apex of the Union position at the Peach Orchard and Sherfy Farm, then wheeled left and rolled up the Union line along the Emmittsburg Road until it was finally stopped behind the Trostle Farm.

Freedom Township, Pennsylvania · United States