Second Brigade

With the Army of the Potomac's Third Corps, First Division, the Second Brigade under Brig. Gen. J. H. Hobart Ward and Col. Hiram Berdan included the 20th Indiana, 3d and 4th Maine, 86th and 124th New York, 99th Pennsylvania Infantry, and 1st and 2d U.S. Sharpshooters, with eight companies of the latter. On July 1 it arrived after sunset and bivouacked for the night. On July 2, after the Corps relieved the Second Division of the Twelfth Corps in the morning, the brigade took position on the left of the division and extended to the base of Little Round Top. Between 2 and 3 p.m. it advanced with the division to the line from the Peach Orchard to Devil's Den, occupying the left of the line to the west base of Little Round Top. The 1st U.S. Sharpshooters and 3d Maine reconnoitered the woods in front of the Peach Orchard from noon until about 2 p.m. and then served with the First Brigade at the Peach Orchard. The 6th New Jersey and 40th New York were sent to Brig. Gen. Ward and supported his left. Between 4 and 5 p.m. the brigade was fiercely attacked by the brigades of Brig. Gen. Robertson and Brig. Gen. Benning, supported on their flanks by the brigades of Brig. Gen. Law and Brig. Gen. Anderson of Major Gen. Hood's Division, and after a prolonged conflict was forced back. On July 3 it was in reserve. Its casualties were 12 officers and 117 men killed, 33 officers and 449 men wounded, and 8 officers and 164 men captured or missing, a total of 781.

Pennsylvania · United States