Barksdale's Charge

On the afternoon of July 2, as most of General Longstreet's Confederate First Corps fought from Little Round Top to the Peach Orchard, Brigadier General William Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade waited in line directly behind this position, impatient for orders to join the attack. Vexed by the delay, Barksdale repeatedly asked permission to advance. Shortly after 6:00 p.m., his brigade, followed by Wofford's Georgia Brigade, charged the Federals at the Peach Orchard and Sherfy Farm and overwhelmed them in a violent struggle, with Barksdale riding in front, his white hair gleaming, amid Rebel yells. The Federal line collapsed as he drove his Mississippians onward, but near the Trostle Farm, about three-quarters of a mile away, the attack lost momentum and Union reinforcements forced the Mississippians back. While trying to rally his men, Barksdale was riddled with bullets and died that night at a Union field hospital.

Freedom Township, Pennsylvania · United States